
fJass f- 5-L(o 

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Book__:^^a 






THE 



HISTORY OF INDIANA, 



FROM ITS 



EARLIEST EXPLORATION BY EUROPEAN:^ 



■r O THE 



CLOSE O F T H E T E R R 1 T O R I A I- (i O V E R N M E N T I \ 1816: 



WITH AN INTRODUITION C'ONTAININU 



HISTORICAL NOTES 



OF THE 



l»I«»COTEBir AND SETTIiEinLENT 



OF T HE 



TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES NORTHWEST OF THE RIVER OHIO, 



BY JOHN B. DILLON. 



VOLUME I, 



INDIANAPOLIS, Ia. 

PUBLISHED BY WM. SHEETS & CO. 
FOE J, B. DILLON AND STANIiSLAUS LASSELLE. 

1S43. 



Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1843, by John B. Dillon, in the 
Clerli's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Indiana. 



PRINTED BY S, V. B. NOEL, 

1 N n I A N A r O L I S , £ A . 






^ 



b1 



PREFACE. 



Among the Historical Notes which constitute the introduc- 
tion to this History of Indiana, I have inserted many official 
documents relating to the early affairs, civil and military, of 
the vast region which was formerly called the Territory of 
the United States northwest of the river Ohio. From a 
very great number of printed authorities, and from many 
thousand pages of old manuscript records and letters, I have 
selected only those statements which appear to be well au- 
thenticated, and connected, either directly or remotely, with 
the origin and progress of civilization in that large domain. 
With a sincere desire to cast from my mind those popular 
prejudices which have had their origin in ambitious conten- 
tions between distinguished individuals, or in national partial- 
ities and antipathies, or in improbable narratives and fanciful 
conjectures, or in conflicting political systems, or in different 
creeds of religion, I have labored for several years, with con- 
stant and careful perseverance, to find out and to perpetuate 
all the important facts which properly belong to an impartial 
history of Indiana from its earliest exploration by Europeans 
to the close of the Territorial Government in 1816^ 

Many interesting particulars concerning the discovery and 
settlement of the northwestern territory have been gleaned 
from the voluminous writings of divers Catholic missionaries, 
and French travellers, who visited the valley of the Mississippi 
at different periods in the course of the eighteenth century: 
and here it is proper to say that my thanks are especially due 



IV. PREFACE. 

lo t[ie Rev. Mr. Martin, of Vincennes ; to J. W. Ryland, Esq. 
of Cincinnati ; to J. B. Duret, Esq, of Logansport ; and to Dr. 
MuNSELi., of Indianapolis ; Irom whom, collectively, I have 
received essential assistance in the examination of a large 
collection of French records, and in the task of translating 
sundry French ordinances, and other public documents. 

A list of the names of persons from whom I have received 
rare and valuable manuscripts, and aid and encouragement in 
the midst of perplexing difficulties, shall be published in the 
form of an appendix, at the close of the second volume of this 
work. The following is a list of the titles of the principal au- 
thorities which I have examined, carefully, in the course of a 
laborious investigation of confused traditions, contradictory 
narratives, and questionable records : — 

American Archives : Fourth Series : Containing a Documentary History of the English 
Colonies in North America, from the King's message to Parliament, of March 7, 1774, to 
the Declaration of Independence by the United States. — Published at Washington, by M. 
St. Clair Clarke and Peter Force, under authority of an act of Congress, passed on the 2d 
of March, 1833. 

American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and E.xecutive, of the Congress of the 
United States, from the first session of the first to the third session of the thirteenth Con- 
gress, inclusive : Commencing March 3, 1789, and ending March 3, 1815. — Selected and 
edited, under the authority of Congress, by Walter Lowrie, Secretary of the Senate, and 
Matthew St. Clair Clarke, Clerk of the House of Representatives. 

An Historical and Chronological Deduction of the Origin of Commerce, from the earliest 
accounts: Containing an history of the great commercial interests of the British Empire, 
&c. — By Adam Anderson. 4 vols, quarto; London, 1801. 

Reports from Committees of the [British] House of Commons, from 1715 to 1801 .' Or- 
dered by the House of Commons to be printed. 15 vols, quarto. 

Meres' Annual "Historical Register, containing an impartial relation of all transaetions, 
Foreign and Domestic," from 1714 to 1737. 22 vols. 12mo. ; London. 

Dodsley's Annual Register, from 1758 to 1819. 61 vols. 8vo. ; London. 

Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, from 1683 to 1736. 3 vols. 8vo. 

A collection of all the Laws of Virginia, from the first session of the Legislature in 1619 
to the year 1792: By William Waller Hening. 13 vols, 8vo. 

The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution : Published under the direc- 
tion of the President of the United States, from the original manuscripts in the Department 
of State, conformably to the resolutions of Congress, of March 27th, 1818 : Edited by Jared 
Sparks. 12 vols. 8vo. 

Secret Journals of the Congress of the Confederation : Published under the direction of 
the President of the United States, conformably to resolution of Congress of Mareh 27, 
1818, and April 21, 1820. 

Journals of the American Congress, from 1774 lo 1778. 4 vols. 8vo. 

T,aws of th«> T'nited folates. 



PREFACE. V. 

Journal of tlie Executive Proceedings of the Senate of tlie United State* of America, 
from the commencement of the first to the termination of the nineteenth Congress: Printed 
by order of the Senate of the United States. 

Journals of Congress. 

Elements of General History : Translated from the French of the Abbe Millot. Part 
second — Modern History. 3vols. 8ro.; London, 1779. 

The Writings of George Washington ; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, 
and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts, 
by Jared Sparks. 12 vols. 8vo. 

The works of Benjamin Franklin, containing several political and historical tracts, not 
included in any former edition, and many letters official and private not hitherto published, 
with notes and a life of the author: By Jared Sparks. 10 vols. 8vo.; Boston, 1840. 

History of the Political Systems of Europe and its Colonies, from the discovery of Amer- 
ica to the independence of the American continent: By A. H. L. Heeren, professor of 
History in Gottingen, and member of the Royal French Academy of Inscriptions. [Trans, 
lated from the German, by George Bancroft.] 2 vols. 8vo. 

The History of the United States of North America, till the British Revolution in 1688 : 
By James Grahame, Esq. 2 vols. 3vo. 

The Annals of America, from tlie discovery of Columbus, in the year 1492 to the year 
1826 : By Abiel Holmes, D. D. 2 vols. 8vo. 

The Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States of America, from the signing of the 
definitive treaty of peace, 10th September, 1783, to the adoption of the Constitution, March 

4, 1789: Published under the direction of the Secretary of State. 
Transactions and Collections of the .'\merican Antiquarian Society. 2 vols. 8vo. 
Tracts and other Papers, relating principally to the origin, settlement, and progress of 

the Colonies in North America, from the discovery of the country to the year 1776: Col- 
lected by Peter Force. 2 vols. 8vo. 

A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, arranged in systematic order, 
forming a complete history of the origin and progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Com- 
merce, by sea and land, from tlie earliest ages to the present time ; By Robert Kerr, F. R. 

5. and F. A. S. 18 vols. 8vo. ; Edinburgh, 1816. 

The History of the discovery and settlement of America: By William Robertson, D. D., 
Principal of the University of Edinburgh, &;c. &c. &c. 1 vol. 8vo. 

The History of Louisiana, particularly of the cession of that Colony to the United States 
of America : By Barbe Marbois. 1 vol. 8vo. 

Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies from the papers of Thomas Jefferson : Edited 
by Thomas Jefferson Randolph. 4 vols. 8vo. ; 1830. 

The History of New Hampshire, comprehending the events of one complete century, 
from the discovery of the river Piscataqua : By Jeremy Belknap, A.M. 3 vols. 8vo. 

The History of Pennsylvania, in North America, from the original institution and set- 
tiement of that Province, under the first Proprietor and Governor William Penn, in 1681, 
till the year 1742; and a brief description of the said Province, and of the general state 
in which it flourished, principally between the years 1760 and 1770. By Robert Proud. 
2 vols. 8vo. 

History of the Colonization of the United States: By George Bancroft. 3 vols. 8vo, 

A History of the Colonies planted by the English on the continent of North America, 
from their settlement to the commencement of the war which terminated in their inde- 
pendence: By John Marshall. 1 vol. 8vo. 

Laws of the Colonial and State Governments relatin;; to Indians and Indian AflViirs, 
from 163:i to 1831, inrlusive. 1 vol. ,^vo 



VI. PREFACE. 

The Life of Thomas Jeffergon, third President of the United States, with parts of his 
Correspondence never before published : By George Tucker, professor of Moral Philosophy 
in the University of Virginia. 2 vols. 8vo,: 1837. 

Notes on the State of Virginia : By Thomas Jefferson. 1 vol. 12mo. 
The Life of Joseph Brant — Thayendanegea ; including the Border Wars of the Amer- 
ican Revolution, and sketches of the Indian Campaigns of Generals Harmar, St. Clair, and 
Wayne; and other matters connected with the Indian Relations of the United States and 
Great Britain, from the Peace of 1783 to the Indian Peace of 1795 . By William L. Stone. 
2 vols. 8vo. 

The History of the late Province of New York, from its discovery to the appointment of 
Governor Colden, in 1762: By the Hon. William Smith, formerly of New York, and late 
Chief Justice of Lower Canada : Published under the direction of the New York Histor- 
ical Society. 2 vols. 8vo. 

The Book of the Indians; or. Biography and History of the Indians of North America, 
from its first discovery to the year 1841 : By Samuel G. Drake, Fellow of the Royal Society 
of Northern Antiquaries, at Copenhagen, honorary member of the New Hampshire and 
New York Historical Societies. 1 vol. 8vo. 

The History of Kentucky : exhibiting an account of the modern discovery, settlement, 
progressive improvement, civil and military transactions, and the present state of the 
country: By H. Marshall. 2 vols. 8vo. ; 1824. 

A History of the State of Ohio, Natural and Civil: By Caleb Atwater, A. M., member 
of the American Antiquarian Society, &c. &c. &c. 1 vol. 8vo. 

A Chronological History of New England, in the form of Annals : being a summary and 
exact account of the most material transactions and occurrences relating to this country, 
in the order of time wherein they happened, from the discovery of Capt. Gosnold in 1602, 
to the arrival of Governor Belcher, in 1730: By Thomas Prince, M. A. 1 vol. 8vo. 

A Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaware and Mohegan 
Indians, from its commencement, in the year 1740, to the close of the year 1808 : By John 
Heckewelder, who was many years in the service of that mission. 1 vol. 8vo. 

Narrative of an E,xpedition to the source of St. Peter's river, &c., performed in the year 
1823, under the command of Stephen H. Long, Major U. S. T. E. 2 vols. 8vo. 

An account of E.xpeditions to the sources of the Mississippi, and through the western 
parts of Louisiana; performed by order of the government of the United States, during the 
years 1805, 1806, and 1807 : By Major Zcbulon M. Pike. 1 vol. 8vo. 

The History of Maryland, from its first settlement, in 1633, to the Restoration, in 1660; 
with a copious introduction and notes and illustrations : By John Leeds Bozman. 2 vols. 8vo. 
The Statutes at Large of South Carolina, containing the acts from 1682 to 1786 : edited 
under authority of the Legislature, by Thomas Cooper, M. D. L. L. D. 

A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, from its earliest exploration and settle, 
ment by the whites, to the close of the northwestern campaign, in 1813 : By Mann Butler. 

1 vol. 8vo. 

Apolitical and Civil History of the United States of America: By Timothy Pitkin. 

2 vols. 8vo. 

A view of the soil and climate of the United States of America, with supplementary re- 
marks upon Florida, on the French Colonies on the Mississippi and Ohio, and in Canada ; 
and on the Aboriginal tribes of America : By C. F. Volney. Translated from the French, 
by C. B. Brown. 1 vol. 8vo. 

Condensed History of Michigan, from its earliest colonization to the present time . By 
James H. Lanman. 1 vol. 18mo. ; 1841. 

Sketches of History, Life, and Manners, in the West : By James Hall. 



PREFACE. VU. 

A Condensed Geography and History of Die Western States, or the Mississippi Valley : 
By Timothy Flint. 2 vols. 8vo. 

A collection of some of the most interesting Narratives of Indian Warfare in the West : 
By Samuel L. Metcalf. 1 vol. 12mo. 

Sketches of Western Adventure: By John A. M'Clung. 1 vol. 12mo. 

Indian Biography, or an Historical Account of those individuals who have been distin- 
guished among the North American nations as Orators, Warriors, Statesmen, and other 
remarkable characters: By B. B. Thatcher, Esq. 2 vols. 18mo. 

Three Years Travels through the interior parts of North America, for more than five 
thousand miles : By Captain Jonathan Carver, of the Provincial troops in America. 1 
vol. 12mo. 

Laws adopted and made by the Governor and Judges of the Territory of the United 
States northwest of the river Ohio. 

Acts of the First General Assembly of the Northwestern Territory. 

Laws made and adopted by the Governor and Judges of the Indiana Territory. 

Acts of the General Assembly of the Indiana Territory. 

An Oration delivered at Marietta, July 4, 1788, by the Hon. James M. Varnum, Esq. 
one of the Judges of the Western Territory : the speech of his Excellency Arthur St. Clair, 
Esquire, upon the proclamation of the commission appointing him Governor of said Terri- 
tory; and the proceedings of the inhabitants of the city of Marietta: Printed by Peter 
Edes, Newport, Rhode Island, 1788. 

J. B D. 

Iniliunapolis, 25th November, 1843. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Northwestern Territory. — Tlie Spaniards, the English, and the French, plant colonies 
in North America — Catholic missionaries — British Colonies in America, in 1670 Pro- 
ceedings of the French — Allouez and Dablon — opinions concerning the Mississippi river — 
Marquette and Joliette visit the Mississippi — Ambitious projects of Robert Cavelier de La 
Salle; his adventures and death — Missionaries among the Illinois Indians — Cabokia and 
Kaskaskia founded. — p. 1. 

CHAPTER II. 

Spain claims a large territory in North America — Louis XIV. determines to establish 
colonies in Louisiana — French settlement founded at Biloxi — Jealousy of the English states- 
men : permanent settlement founded at Detroit — conditions on which the first French 
settlers at Detroit received grants of land — Fur Trade — The Sieur Juchereau and the 
missionary Mermet attempt to found a settlement — the missionary Marest — Detroit be- 
sieged — Commerce of Louisiana granted to Crozat — Crozat relinquishes the grant — The 
Province of Louisiana ceded to the Western Company : a new government formed for the 
Province — Settlers transported to the valley of the Mississippi — New Orleans founded — 
The Indies Company acquire the Province of Louisiana^-Ordinance entkcted for the benefit 
of the inhabitants of Louisiana, on the 2d of September, 1721 — trade and commerce — form 
of granting lands to settlers — Ordinance published by Louis XV. in the month of March, 
1724 — the French settlements at Natchez destroyed by the Indians — the Natchez nation 
of Indians exterminated by the French — p. 28. 

CHAPTER III. 

The crown of France resumes the government of Louisiana : war with the Chickasaw 
Indians — defeat of the French, and death of Francis Morgan de Vincennes — peace con. 
eluded with the Chickasaws — treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle — conflicting claims of France and 
England : treaty between the English and the Twightwefes, at Lancaster — the Ohio Com- 
pany receive a grant of half a million of acres of land lying about the river Ohio — English 
and French systems of colonial government — white population in 1749 — proceedings of 
the Ohio Company — controversy between France and Great Britain concerning the regions 
on the western side of the Allegheny mountains — George Washington sent to the com- 
mander of the French forces in the west — French posts in the Mississippi valley Fort 

Du Ciuesne built by the French — the Twightwees attacked by their enemies — plan proposed 
by Dr. Franklin for establishing English colonies in the west — deatli of the Sieur de Jum- 

onville — defeat of the provincial troops under Washington : defeat of General Braddock 

defeat of Major Grant — the French evacuate Fort Du duesne on the approach of General 
Forbes — Quebec taken by the English — Montreal, Detroit, &c. surrendered to the English : 
treaty of peace between France and England : Canada and part of Louisiana ceded to 
England. — p. 60. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Pontiac's war — proclamation concerning the French inhabitants of the Illinois country : 
evacuation of Fort Chartres : description of Fort Chartres. — p. 79. 

CHAPTER V. 

Number of French families in the northwestern territory : attempts to check the growth 
of settlements in the west — George Washington and others visit the valley of the Ohio, in 

B 



X. CONTENTS. 

1770 — proclamation concerning the settlers on the Wabash river; letter from the French 
inhabitants of Vincennes to General Gage — memorial of divers inhabitants of the province 
of duebec — the province of Quebec enlarged so as to include the settlers on the Wabash, 
&c. — excitement among the colonists of Great Uritain — English troops withdravi'n from 
Fort Pitt — Governor Dunmore encourages English colonists to take warrants for lands in 
the west. Alarm of settlers: massacre of Indians at Baker's Bottom: Dunmore's expedi- 
tion against the Indians — battle at the mouth of the Great Kanawha: preliminary articles 
of peace concluded with the Shawanees and their confederates at Camp Charlotte — speech 
of Logan — resolutions passed at Fort Gower — the North American colonies renounce their 
allegiance to Great Britain — speeches circulated among the Indian tribes, — p. 97. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Traders in the Illinois country receive grants of lands — Illinois Land Company — procla- 
mation, by Dunmore, concerning vacant lands — Wabash Land Company — lands and lots 
granted to settlers about Vincennes — efforts to engage the Indians in the war between the 
American colonies and Great Britain — inhabitants of Vincennes take the oath of allegiance 
to King George — form of the oath — deatli of the Sbawanee chief, Cornstalk — Indians as- 
sail the frontier settlements of the United States — frontier forts — Indian mode of making 
war — Colonel George Rogers Clark prepares to lead an expedition against the French set- 
tlements about Kaskaskia and Vincennes — Clark's memoir of the expedition. — p. 116. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Clark's memoir continued ; Kaskaskia and Cahokia taken — the inhabitants, generally, 
take the oath of allegiance to Virginia; the inhabitants of Vincennes take the oath of 
.lUegiance to Virginia, garrison the fort, and hoist the American flag — Captain Leonard 
Helm sent to command the fort — Tobacco's son, a Piankeshaw chief — Clark holds a coun- 
cil with Indians at Cahokia— Illinois county erected — the British Lieutenant-Governor of 
Detroit takes possession of the fort at Vincennes—pcrilous situation of Clark. — p. 135. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Clark moves from Kaskaskia, with a small force, to attack Hamilton — difficulties of the 
march — Clark's notification to the inhabitants of Vincennes — the f«rt attacked — corres- 
pondence between Clark and Hamilton — the fort surrendered. — p. 154. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Boats captured on the Wabash — goods divided among Clark's soldiers — proposed expe- 
dition against Detroit — some prisoners sent to Virginia, others dismissed — Piankeshaw and 
Pottawattamie Indians express their friendship for the United States — Clark's address to 
them — Clark appoints officers at Vincennes, and returns to Kaskaskia — hostilities of the 
Delawares — Clark orders war to be made on the Delawares — peace concluded with the 
Delawares — Clark returns to Vincennes, abandons his designs against Detroit, and pro. 
ceeds to take up his quarters at the falls of the river Ohio. — p. 174. 

CHAPTER X. 

Settlements increase in Kentucky — General Mcintosh ordered to protect the western 
frontiers — treaty with the Delaware Indians — Colonel John Todd visits Vincennes and 
Kaskaskia; issues a proclamation; institutes a Court at Vincennes — proceedings of the 
Court — Col. John Bowman's expy.d'ftion — Capt Byrd's expedition — Clark's expedition — La 
Balme's expedition — Capt. Don Eugenio Pierre's expedition — Col. Broadhead's expedition : 
Col. David Williamson's expedition — Indians attack Estell's station — death of Capt. Estell : 
CoL Crawford's expedition — India'ns attack Bryant's station; attack Laughery's party — 
Clark's expedition : treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain ; boundaries 
of the United States — proclamation by Congress — General Clark dismissed from the service 



CONTENTS. XI. 

of Virginia — Indian grant of land — Clarksville laid off— Virginia cedes to the United States 
her title to the country northwest of the Ohio river — treaty at Fort Mcintosh — Ordinance 
of 1785, concerning western lands — proclamation concerning settlers on the northwest 
side of the Ohio— proposed treaty with Indians — excitement among settlers, &c. — Indian 
council at Ouiatenon — skirmish at tlie mouth of Embarrass — Clark's Wabash expedition — 
Logan's expedition. — p. 185. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Clark's proceedings at Vincennes ; navigation of the Mississippi : views and proceedings 
of western settlers; seizure of Spanish properly at Vincennes; act of the council of Vir- 
ginia; resolution of Congress ; Ordinance of 1787 ; resolutionsof Congress; hostile feelings 
exist between the western settlers and the Spaniards of Louisiana ; proceedings of General 
Harmar ; Major John F. Hamtramck stationed at Vincennes. — p. 204. 

CHAPTER XII. 

Claims of New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut ; Western Reserve of Connecticut ; 
Board of Treasury authorized to dispose of western lands; contract with the Ohio Com- 
pany of Associates ; settlement at Marietta ; Symmes' Purchase ; St. Clair appointed Gov- 
ernor of the northwestern territory ; his instructions ; laws adopted and published at Mari- 
etta, in 1788; treaties at Fort Harmar; report of General Knox, relative to Indians; Col. 
John Hardin's expedition ; letter from St. Clair to Washington ; Washington's instructions 
to St. Clair; St. Clair proceeds to the Illinois country; scarcity of corn at Vincennes; St. 
Clair's report concerning settlers in Illinois and on the Wabash ; memorial from P. Gibault 
and others.— p. 223. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Journal of Antoine Gamelin ; St. Clair returns to Fort Washington ; Winthrop Sargent 
proceeds to Vincennes ; proceedings of Sargent , letter from magistrates of the Court of 
Vincennes; laws adopted and published at Vincennes, In 1790; the principal inhabitants 
of Vincennes address Sargent ; his reply ; Indian depredations ; Harniar's expedition 
against Indians on the Scioto; Harmar's expedition against the Miami village. — p. 245. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Letter from Rufus Putnam to President Washington ; alarm of the western settlers ; 
St. Clair invested with the command of three thousand troops; instructions to St. Clair ; 
instructions to General Scott; Scott's expedition against the Wea or Ouiatenon towns on 
the Wabash; General Wilkinson's expedition against the Wabash Indians; confederacy 
of Indians ; British posts in the northwestern territory p. 276. 

CHAPTER XV. 

St. Clair's expedilion against the Miami village ; defeat of St. Clair's army ; field of ac- 
tion visited hy General Wilkinson ; St. Clair resigns the oflSce of Major General ; Anthony 
Wayne appointed to fill the vacancy ; proceedings of Wayne ; propositions to employ 
friendly Indians ; messengers and spies sent among the hostile Indians ; Hardin and True- 
man killed; William May's deposition; Putnam's treaty at Vincennes; Indian council at 
the Rapids of the Maumee ; Indian depredations ; Major Adair attacked near Fort St. Clair 
destitute condition of American soldiers ; laws adopted and published, at Cincinnati, in 
the course of the years 1790, 1791, and 1792 — p. 298. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Washington appoints commissioners to negotiate a peace with the northwestern Indians ; 
instructions to the commissioners ; proceedings of the commissioners ; speeches and letters, 
which passed between the Indians and the commissioners; failure of the attempt to make 
a treaty of peace p. 326. 



Xll. CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Proceedings of Wayne ; Indians attack convoys; influenza among the troops , Wayne 
eatablislies his headquarters at Fort Greenville ; Fort Eeeovery built ; critical state of the 
relations between the United States and the governments of Great Britain, France, and 
Spain; conduct of the French minister Genet ; proposed expeditions against Florida and 
Louisiana; complaints of the British minister and the Spanish commissioners; letter from 
Mr. Jefferson to the American minister at Paris ; letter from Mr- Genet to Mr. Jefferson ; 
Washington takes measures for the prevention of a hostile invasion of Louisiana ; opinions 
of Governor Shelby; prospect of war between the United States and Great Britain; Mr. 
Genet recalled ; Washington issues a proclamation ; secret and confidential instructions to 
General Wayne ; failure of the attempt to invade Louisiana ; attack on Fort Recovery ; 
Kentucky volunteers ; Wayne moves from Greenville towards the mouth of the Auglaize ; 
erects Fort Defiance ; marches towards the Rapids of the Maumee ; defeat of the Indian 
forces; correspondence between General Wayne and Major Campbell, the British com. 
mandant at Fort Miami. — p. 356. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Fort Wayne erected and garrisoned ; Wayne establishes his bead-quarters at Greenville ; 
suspension of hostilities; treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, concluded between 
the United States and Great Britain; British troops and garrisons to be withdrawn from 
the northwestern territory ; Indians visit Greenville and sign preliminary articles of peace ; 
proceedings of the treaty of Greenville; treaty concluded ; emigration; laws adopted and 
made at Cincinnati, in the year 1795. — p. 384. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Treaty between the United States and Spain ; boundaries ; navigation of the Mississippi ; 
British garrisons, &c. withdrawn from the northwestern territory ; American troops take 
possession of the fort at Detroit; hostile temper of the government of France ; treaty of 
alliance between France and Spain ; emissaries of Spain and France attempt to induce the 
people of the western country to separate themselves from the American Union ; mission 
of Thomas Power; mission of Lorromie ; the government of the United Stateu adopts de- 
fensive and retaliatory measures ; act to raise a provisional army ; act to suspend the 
commercial intercourse between France and the United States ; act concerning aliens ; 
act concerning sedition ; Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the American for- 
cer; letter from Washington to Adams ; instructions to General Wilkinson; Spaniards 
retire from posts within the boundaries of the United States ; Fort Adams erected ; treaty of 
peace and commerce between the United States and the Republic of France ; Louisiana retro- 
ceded to France; sold and ceded to the United States; laws adopted and published, at 
Cincinnati, in the year 1798 ; Mississippi territory established ; first General Assembly of 
the northwestern territory ; delegate to Congress elected ; acts passed at the first session 
of the General Assembly, and approved by Governor St. Clair ; northwestern territory 
divided ; Indiana territory established. — p. 408. 

4 APPENDIX. 

Treaty of Fort Stanwix, ----...... 432 

Treaty of Fort M'Intosh, 43^ 

Ordinance of 1785, concerning public lands, ....... 434 

Treaty at the mouth of the Great Miami, 439 

Ordinance of 13th July, 1787, 44j 

Treaty of Fort Harmar, with the Sis Nations, 445 

Treaty of Fort Harmar, with the Wyandots, &c. 447 

Treaty of Greenville, •■.-....... 451 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 



CHAPTER I, 



The fertile and populous states of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and 
Michigan, contain within their limits, collectively, the fairest 
portion of that large region which, from 1787 to 1800, was 
known and governed as " The Territory of the United 
States North-west of the River Ohio." This Territory, 
in its greatest extent, was bounded on the south by the river 
Ohio, on the east by Pennsylvania, and on the north and west 
by the lines which divided the United States from the domin- 
ions of Great Britain and Spain. Almost a century and a half 
passed away after the discovery of America, before any por- 
tion of this region was explored by Europeans. 

During the course of the sixteenth century, the Spaniards, 
the English, and the French, struggling separately against 
many formidable obstacles, and suffering many disasters and 
defeats, persevered steadily in their efforts to establish colonies 
in North America. In 1568, the Spaniards made their first 
effectual settlement, in Florida. The English made their first 
permanent settlement, in 1607, at Jamestown, in Virginia. 
The French planted a small colony at Port Royal, in Nova 
Scotia, in 1605; and three years afterwards, in 1608, a num- 
ber of adventurers from France founded the city of Quebec. 
From this time until 1763, a period of one hundred and fifty- 
five years, France and Great Britain were the great rivals in 
the contests concerning the commerce, the territory, and the 
government, of North America. The rivalry of these nations 



2 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

contributed to subdue the wilderness, and to lay the founda- 
tions of freedom and civilization in the new world. 

At an early period it was an avowed object of the directors 
of the ecclesiastical power at Quebec to spread the doctrines 
of the Catholic Church as far as the remotest bounds of the 
western territory, and thus to civilize the Aborigines and estab- 
lish the dominion of France over those distant regions. First 
among those who toiled and suffered to achieve these great 
objects were missionaries of the Jesuit order. This religious 
order was founded at Rome, in 1539, by Ignatius Loyola, a 
Spaniard, of a warm imagination, which early awakened in 
him a zeal for religion. The members of the order were bound 
by the vows of poverty, chastity, and implicit obedience to 
their superiors. In addition to these vows, they bound them- 
selves to go, unhesitatingly, and without recompense, whither- 
soever their superiors should send them, as missionaries for the 
conversion of the heathen, or for the service of the Church in 
any other way, and to devote all their power and means to the 
accomplishment of the work.* 

In 1634, the Jesuits Breboeuf and Daniel joined a party of 
Hurons who were returning from Quebec, and passing through 
the Ottawa river, these missionaries established a station near 
a bay of Lake Huron, "where they daily rang a bell to call the 
savages to prayer, and performed all those kind offices which 
were calculated to secure the confidence and affection of the 
tribes on the lake shores." f 

In 1665, some attempts were made to establish missionary 
stations near the southwestern extremity of Lake Superior, 
and at or near Green Bay on Lake Michigan; and in 1668, 
the Mission of St. Mary was founded by Claude AUouez, James 
Marquette, and Claude Dablon, on the southern shore of the 
strait between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. This was the 
first settlement made by Europeans within the boundaries of 
the state of Michigan. 

»Enc. Am. vol. vii, p. 198. 

tLanman — [In 1629 the General Assembly of the Colony of Virginia ordered war to 
be prosecuted against the Indians, "and no peace made with them." — Hen. Stat, i, 159. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 3 

In 1670, Great Britain had nine colonies in America. These 
colonies wei^e established at different points adjacent to the 
Atlantic coast, and between the 32d and 45th degrees of north 
latitude. About eighty years after this period, the English 
made their first attempt to plant a colony on the western side 
of the Allegheny mountains. 

The French, in 1670, had extended their settlements west- 
wardly along the shores of the St. Lawrence, and on the north- 
ern borders of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Jesuit missiona- 
ries had explored the country bordering upon the great Lakes, 
as far westward as the head of Lake Superior. Missionary 
stations were established among many of the Indian tribes; 
and, to advance and protect the lucrative Fur Trade, small 
stockade forts and trading posts had been erected at various 
eligible points. 

An indolent and licentious king, Charles II., was at this time 
on the throne of England. Louis XIV. a bold and ambitious 
man, was the reigning monarch of France, and the great Jean 
Baptiste Colbert was his minister of finances. The influence 
of the brilliant and expansive genius of this minister inspired 
the colonists of Canada with an ardent desire to extend the 
dominions and exalt the glory of the French Monarchy. The 
ecclesiastical, the civil, and the military authorities established 
at Quebec, were united in their efforts to increase the number 
of missionary stations, trading posts, and forts, on the borders 
of the lakes, and to extend the power of France over the In- 
dian tribes of the west. The missionaries and the traders, act- 
ing under the instructions which they received from their offi- 
cial superiors, induced a number of the principal men of differ- 
ent tribes to assemble, in May 1671, at the Falls of St. Mary, 
between Lake Superior and Lake Huron. At this assemblage 
St. Lusson, with Allouez as interpreter, appeared as the repre- 
sentative of M. Talon, who was the Intendant of New France; 
and there were delegates " from the head waters of the St. 
Lawrence, the Mississippi, the lakes, and even the Red river; 
and veteran officers from the armies of Prance, intermingled 



4 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

here and there with a Jesuit Missionary." * A cross was raised 
r— the arms of France were marked upon a cedar post — and 
the passive representatives of the savage tribes were told that 
they were under the protection of the king of the French. 

In 1672, the missionaries Allouez and Dablon explored the 
eastern part of Wisconsin, the northeastern portion of Illinois, 
and, probably, traversed that part of Indiana which lies north 
of the river Kankakee. At this time the Pottawattamies resi- 
ded on the islands called Noquet, near the entrance of Green 
Bay, and a branch of the nation of Miami Indians occupied 
the country which Hes on the southern borders of Lake Mich- 
igan, f 

Before 1673, the French had received from the Indians many 
accounts concerning a great river at the west, which flowed 
southwardly ; and the place at which this river entered the sea 
JDecame a matter of interesting speculation. "There were three 
opinions on the subject: First, that it ran towards the south- 
west, and entered the Gulf of California: secondly, that it 
flowed into the Gulf of Mexico: and thirdly, that it found its 
way in a more easterly direction, and discharged itself into 
the Atlantic ocean, somewhere on the coast of Virginia. The 
question was not less important in a commercial and political 
view, than interesting as a geographical problem. To estab- 
lish the point, and to make such other discoveries as opportu- 
nities would admit, M. de Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, 
encouraged an expedition to be undertaken. The persons to 
whom it was entrusted were M. Joliette, a resident of Quebec, 
and the missionary Marquette who was then [ 1 673] at Michil- 
imackinac, or in the vicinity of that place." J 

On the 13th of May, 1673, Marquette, Joliette, and five 
persons of less note, left Michilimackinac, in two bark canoes, 
and commenced their voyage of discovery. Proceeding south- 
westwardly, the voyagers entered Green Bay; and passing 



4tLaDman. 

tTransactions and Collections Am. Ant. Society, ii, 27. 

JSparks' Abstract of Marquette's Narrative. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 5 

through that bay, they ascended the Fox river, until they 
arrived at a village where Miamies, Mascoutins, * and Kicka- 
poos, were dwelling together. In the centre of this village, 
which, at a previous time, had been visited by Allouez, the 
Indians had erected a large cross. This emblem was curiously 
decorated with thank-offerings to the Great Spirit. The 
Miamies were friendly and liberal, and the finest looking men. 
They were good warriors, successful in their expeditions, do- 
cile, and fond of instruction. The Mascoutins and Kickapoos 
were coarser and less civilized. To the people of this village 
Marquette and Joliette explained the objects of their expedi- 
tion. They gave some small presents to the chiefs, and re- 
quested the assistance of two guides to put them in their way. 
This request was granted, and two Miamies embarked with 
them, on the 10th of June, 1673. These guides conducted the 
exploring party safely up the Fox river to a point where that 
stream approaches the head waters of the river Wisconsin. 
The canoes were then transported over a portage, about one 
mile and a half across, to the waters of the latter stream. The 
Miami guides then returned to their village, and Marquette 
and his companions embarked on their voyage down the Wis- 
consin. On the 17th of June they entered the waters of the 
Mississippi, and began to float down its current. " From the 
time of leaving their guides they descended the two rivers more 
than one hundred leagues, without discovering any other inhab- 
itants of the forests, than birds and beasts. They were always 
on their guard, kindling a fire on the shore, towards evening, 
to cook their food, and afterwards anchoring their canoes in 
the middle of the stream during the night. They proceeded 
thus for more than sixty leagues from the place where they 
entered the Mississippi, when, on the 21st of June, they per- 
ceived on the bank of the river the footsteps of men, and a 
well-beaten path leading into a beautiful prairie. They landed 
and leaving the canoes under the guard of their boatmen, Mar- 

♦Charlevoix says that the word "Mascoutenck" means "a country without woods — a 
prairie." It is probable, therefore, that the name Mascoutins was used to designate Prairie 
Indians — [Arch. Am. ii, 61. 



6 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

quette and Joliette set forth to make discoveries. After silently 
following the path for about two leagues, they perceived a vil- 
lage situate on the margin of a river, and two others on a hill, 
within half a league of the first. As they approached nearer 
they gave notice of their arrival by a loud call. Hearing a 
noise, the Indians came out of their cabins; and, having looked 
at the strangers for a w^hile, they deputed four of their elders 
to talk with them. Two of them brought pipes ornamented 
with feathers, which, without speaking, they elevated towards 
the sun, as a token of friendship. Gaining assurance from this 
ceremony, Marquette addressed them, enquiring of what nation 
they were. They answered that they were Illinois, and, offer- 
ing their pipes, invited the strangers to enter their village; 
where they were received with every mark of attention, con- 
ducted to the cabin of the chief, and complimented on their 
arrival by the natives, who gathered round them, gazing in 
silence." * 

The chief of all the Illinois tribe received them in a friendly 
manner; and when Marquette explained, at a council, the 
motives which induced him and his followers to press forward 
to the Mississippi, and into the country of the Illinois, the chief 
in reply, expressed his approbation of their enterprise ; but, in 
the name of the whole nation, urged the adventurers to avoid 
the dangei's of a further voyage down the Great River. Kindly 
rejecting this advice, the voyagers descended the Mississippi to 
the mouth of the Arkansas, where they were received at an 
Indian village and supplied with provisions. 

It was supposed, at that time, (1673) that the Gulf of Mexico 
extended as far north as thirty-one degrees and forty minutes. 
Marquette and Joliette, therefore, " believed themselves not to 
be more than two or three days' journey from it : and it ap- 
peared to them certain that the Mississippi must empty itself 
into that Gulf, and not into the sea through Virginia, at the 
eastward, because the coast of Virginia Avas in latitude thirty- 
four degrees, at which they had already arrived; nor yet into 
the Gulf of California at the southwest, because they had found 



•Sparks' Abstract of Marquette's Narrative. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 7 

the course of the river to be invariably south. Being thus 
persuaded that the main object of their expedition was attain- 
ed ; and considering moreover, that they were unable to resist 
the armed savages who infested the lower parts of the river, 
and that, should they fall into the hands of the Spaniards, the 
fruits of their voyage and discoveries would be lost, they re- 
solved to proceed no farther; and having informed the natives 
of their determination, and rested another day, they prepared 
for their return." * 

On the 17th of July, 1673, Marquette and his companions 
left the Indian village of Akamsca, [Arkansas] and began to 
retrace their way to Canada. They ascended the Mississippi 
to the mouth of the river Illinois, and, following the meanders 
of the latter stream, as it flowed through a beautiful and fertile 
region, arrived at an Indian village, where they were hospita- 
bly welcomed, and kindly entertained, by the inhabitants. On 
their departure from this village, they were accompanied by a 
chief and a number of young men, as far as the western shore 
of Lake Michigan. The exploring party then directed their 
course towards Green Bay, where, late in September, they 
arrived in safety, after an absence of about four months. The 
tidings of their discoveries soon spread throughout the French 
colonies in North America, and opened a new field for the 
labors of missionaries, and for the operations of those colo- 
nists w^ho were engaged in the profitable inland commerce of 
that time. 

Marquette continued to labor as a missionary among the 
Indians about the borders of Lake Michigan, until the 18th of 
May, 1675, when he died suddenly, on the banks of the river 
which still bears his name. He was a native of Picardy, and 
"one of the most illustrious missionaries of new France." f 

Some time after the expedition of Marquette and Joliette, 
Robert Cavelier de La Salle, a native of Normandy, who arri- 
ved at Quebec about the year 1670, formed the project of 
exploring the country from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of 



♦Sparks' Abstract of Marquette's Narrative. 
tCharlevoix. 



8 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Mexico, taking possession of the remote regions in the name of 
the king of France, and constructing fortifications at the most 
ehgible places near the shores of the lakes and on the borders 
of the navigable rivers of the west. It was his object, by this 
means, to extend the power of France over a mild region of 
"wonderful extent and unparalleled fertility."* Having dis- 
closed his gigantic project to Frontenac, the Governor-general 
of Canada, La Salle went to France for the purpose of obtain- 
ing for his enterprise the sanction of the king. Louis XIV., 
not content with merely approving his design, " caused orders 
to be given to him, granting him permission to go and put it 
in execution; and to assist him to carry so vast a project into 
effect, shortly after, the necessary succors were furnished 
him."t He sailed from Rochelle, with his lieutenant Tonti, 
and thirty men, on the 14th of July, 1678, and arrived at 
Quebec on the 15th of September of the same year. From 
Quebec La Salle proceeded to Fort Frontenac, at the outlet 
of Lake Ontario; where, awaiting his arrival, and ready to 
accompany him on his exploring expedition, he found Louis 
Hennepin, a missionary of the Franciscan order. 

On the 18th of November, Hennepin and an officer whose 
name was La Motte, embarked, with fourteen men, in a vessel 
of ten tons burthen. " We sailed on," says Hennepin, " till we 
came to the further end of the lake Ontario, and on the 6th of 
January [1679] entered the river Niagara, where we set our 
carpenters and the rest of the crew to work in building a fort 
and some houses; but, foreseeing that this was like to give 
jealousy to the Iroquese [Five Nations] J and to the English 

*Chase. 

tLast Discoveries in North America, of M. de La Salle, published by the Chevalier 
Tonti, Governor of the fort of St. Louis, at the Elinois : Paris, 1697 [The volume ori- 
ginally published in Paris, in 1697, as by Tonti, is of very doubtful authenticity, though in' 
most points it must be correct; as it agrees in most points with Charlevoix's account, 
which was drawn from independent sources.] — North Am. Review, vol. xlviii, p. 82. 

JThe Fiv6 Nations were the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Cayugas, the Onondagas, 
and the Senecas. In 1677, an agent of Virginia held a conference with these Nations, 
at Albany, and estimated the number of their warriors as follows: Mohawks, 300; 
Oneidas, 200; Onondagas, 350; Cayugas, 300 ; Senecas, 1,000 : Total, 2,150. About 
the year 1711, the Tuscaroras retired from Carolina and joined the Iroquois confederacy, 
which, after that event, became known as the Six Nations. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 9 

who dwell near them and have a great commerce with them, 
we told those of the village of Niagara that we did not intend 
to build a fort on the bank of their river, but only a great 
store-house to keep the commodities we had brought to supply 
their occasions. And to remove their suspicion, M. de la 
Motte thought it absolutely necessary to send an embassy to 
the Iroquese ; telling me ' he was resolved to take along with 
him seven men out of the sixteen that we were in all, and de- 
sired me to accompany him, because I understood in a manner 
the language of their nation.' We passed through forests thir- 
ty-two leagues ; and after five days' journey came to a great 
village, and were immediately carried to the cabin of their 
principal. The younger savages washed our feet, and rubbed 
them over with the grease of deer, wild goats, and oil of bears. 
They are for the most part tall and well shaped, covered with 
a sort of robe made of beavers' and wolves' skins or black 
squirrels,' and holding a pipe or calumet in their hands. The 
Senators of Venice do not appear with a graver countenance, 
and perhaps do not speak with more majesty and solidity than 
those ancient Iroqueses. One of our men who well understood 
their language, told the assembly — 1. That we were come to 
pay them a visit, and smoke with them in their pipes. Then 
we delivered our presents, consisting of axes, knives, a great 
collar of white and blue porcelain, with some gowns. The 
same presents were renewed upon every point we proposed to 
them. 2. We desired them to give notice to the five cantons 
of their nation, that we were about to build a ship or great 
canoe above the great fall of the river Niagara, to go and fetch 
European commodities by a more convenient passage than that 
of the river St. Lawrence, whose rapid currents made it dan- 
gerous and long: and that by these means we should afford 
them our commodities cheaper than the English of Boston, or 
the Dutch, at that time masters of New York. This pretence 
was specious enough, and very well contrived to engage the 
barbarous nation to extirpate the English and Dutch out of 
that part of America. 3. We told them that we should pro- 
vide them at the river Niagara with a blacksmith and gunsmith 
2 



10 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

to mend their guns, axes, &c. they having nobody among them 
that understood that trade. We added many other reasons 
which we thought proper to persuade them to favor our design. 
The presents we made unto them in cloth or iron, were worth 
above four hundred Hvres, besides some other European com- 
modities very scarce in that country: for the best reasons in 
the world are not listened to among them unless they are en- 
forced with presents. The next day their speaker answered 
our discourse, article by article, seeming to be pleased with 
our proposals, though they were not really so, having a greater 
inclination for the English and Butch than for us." 

From this interview with the Iroquois, Hennepin and his 
party returned through the woods to the river Niagara, where 
they arrived on the 14th of January. Acting under the com- 
mands of La Salle, who joined them on the 20th, the party 
went " two leagues above the great fall of Niagara, and made 
a dock for building the ship." At this place a vessel of sixty 
tons was built and launched. She was called " The Griffin," 
and carried five small guns. 

On the 7th of August, 1679, La Salle and his party, being 
in all thirty-four men, among whom there were three priests, 
Louis Hennepin, Gabriel Ribourdie and Zenobe Mambre, went 
on board the Griffin, and sailed from the mouth of Lake Erie. 
"On the 11th August," says Hennepin, "we entered a strait 
thirty leagues long and one broad, except in the middle which 
makes the Lake of St. Clair. On the twenty-third we got into 
the Lake Huron. The twenty-sixth we had so violent a storm 
that we brought down our yards and topmasts, and let the ship 
drive at the mercy of the wind, knowing no place to run into 
to shelter ourselves. M. de La Salle, notwithstanding he was 
a courageous man, began to fear, and told us we were undone; 
whereupon every body fell on his knees to say his prayers and 
prepare for death, except our pilot, whom we could never 
oblige to pray ; and he did nothing all that while but curse and 
swear against M. de La Salle, who had brought him thither to 
make him perish in a nasty lake, and lose the glory he had 
acquired by his long and happy navigations on the ocean. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 11 

When the wind abated we hoisted sail, and the next day 
[28th of August^ 1679,] arrived at MissiUmakinak. On the 
second of September we weighed anchor, and sailed to an 
island at the mouth of Baie des Puans, [Green Bay] forty 
leagues from Missilimakinak. An Indian chief who had been 
formerly in Canada, received us with all the civility imagin- 
able. M. de La Salle, without asking any other body's advice, 
resolved to send back the ship to Niagara, laden with furs and 
skins, to discharge his debts. Our pilot and five men with him 
were therefore sent back ; and ordered to return with all ima- 
ginable speed to join us towards the southern parts of the lake, 
where we should stay for them among the lUinois. They sailed 
the eighteenth with a westerly wind, and fired a gun as taking 
leave. It was never known what course they steered, nor how 
they perished; but it is supposed that the ship struck upon a 
sand-bank, and was there buried. This was a great loss for 
M. de La Salle and other adventurers, for that ship with its 
cargo cost about sixty thousand livres." 

On the 19tli of September, 1679, La Salle and fourteen of 
his followers, among Avhom was the Franciscan Hennepin, 
embarked in canoes, and, leaving an island near the mouth of 
Green Bay, they steered southwardly toward the head of Lake 
Michigan. Tonti was ordered to collect the rest of the adven- 
turers, and to proceed with them to the southern shores of the 
lake, where the two parties were to be united. "We steered," 
says Hennepin, " to the south towards the continent, distant 
from the island near forty leagues. On the first of October, 
[1679,] after twelve leagues rowing, we were in so great dan- 
ger by stress of weather, that we were forced to throw our- 
selves into the water, and carry our canoes on our shoulders 
to save them from being broken to pieces. I carried Father 
Gabriel [Ribourdie] on my back, whose great age, being sixty- 
five years, did not permit him to venture into the water. 

"Having no acquaintance with the savages of the village 
near which we landed, we prepared to make' a vigorous de- 
fence in case of an attack ; and in order to it, possessed our- 
selves of a rising ground, where we could not be surprised. 



12 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

We then sent three men to buy provisions in the village, with 
the Calumet or Pipe of Peace, which those of the island had 
given us. And because the Calumet of Peace is the most sa- 
cred thing among savages, I shall here describe the same. It 
is a large tobacco pipe, of a red, black, or white marble. The 
head is finely polished. The quill, which is commonly two 
foot and a half long, is made of a pretty strong reed or cane, 
adorned with feathers of all colors, interlaced with locks of 
women's hair. Every nation adorns it as they think fit, and 
according to the birds they have in their country. Such a 
pipe is a safe conduct among all the allies of the nation who 
has given it: and in all their embassies the Calumet is carried 
as a symbol of peace. The savages being generally persuaded 
that some great misfortune would befall them, if they should 
violate the public faith of the Calumet. They fill this pipe with 
the best tobacco they have, and then present it to those with 
whom they have concluded any great aflfair, and smoke out of 
the same after them. 

"Our three men, provided with this pipe, and very well 
armed, went to the little village three leagues from the place 
where we landed ; but finding nobody therein, took some IJ^dian 
corn, and left instead of it some goods, to let them see that 
we were no robbers, nor their enemies. However, twenty of 
them, armed with axes, small guns, bows and clubs, advanced 
near the place where we stood : whereupon M. de La Salle, 
with four men very well armed, went toward them to speak 
with them, and desired them to come near us, for fear a party 
of our men who were gone a hunting, should meet them and 
kill them. They sat down at the foot of the eminence where 
we were posted, and M. de La Salle spoke to them all the 
while concerning his voyage, which he told them he had un- 
dertaken for their good and advantage. This was only to 
amuse them till our three men returned, who appearing with 
the Calumet of Peace, the savages made a great shout, and 
rose, and began to dance. We excused our taking some of 
their corn, telling them we had left the true value of it in 
goods; which they took so well that they sent immediately 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 13 

for more, and gave us next day as much as we could carry 
away in our canoes. They retired towards evening, and M. 
de La Salle ordered some trees to be cut down, and laid across 
the way, to prevent any surprise from them. The oldest of 
them came to us next morning with their Calumet of Peace, 
and brought us some wild goats. We presented them with 
some axes, knives, and several httle toys for their wives, with 
which they were well pleased. 

"We left that place the second of October, [1679,] and 
coasted along the lake, which is so steep that we could hardly 
find any place to land. The violence of the wind obliged us 
to drag our canoes sometimes to the top of the rocks to pre- 
vent their being dashed in pieces. The stormy weather lasted 
four days, during which we suffered very much, and our pro- 
visions failed us again; which, with the fatigues of rowing, 
caused old Father Gabriel to faint away in such a manner that 
I thought verily he could not live. We had no other subsist- 
ence but a handful of Indian corn once every twenty-four 
hours, which we roasted or else boiled in water; and yet 
rowed almost every day from morning till night. Being in 
this dismal distress, we saw upon the coast a great many 
ravens and eagles, from whence we conjectured there was 
some prey; and having landed upon that place, we found 
above the half of a fat antelope which the wolves had strang- 
led. This provision was very acceptable to us, and the rudest 
of our men could not but praise the divine Providence who 
took so particular a care of us. Having thus refreshed our- 
selves, we continued our voyage directly to the southern part 
of the lake. On the 16th [October] we met with abundance 
of game. A savage we had with us killed several stags and 
wild goats, and our men a great many turkeys, fat and big; 
wherewith we provided ourselves for several days, and so em- 
barked again. On the first of November [1679] we came to 
the mouth of the River of the Miamies, * which runs from the 
south-east and falls into the lake. Here we spent all that month 

♦The St. Joseph of Lake Micbigant 



14 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

in building a fort eighty feet long and forty feet wide, made of 
great square pieces of timber laid one upon the other." 

On the third of December, 1679, La Salle, having been re- 
inforced by the arrival of Tonti, placed a garrison of ten men 
in the new^ fort at the mouth of the River of the Miamies, and 
with the remainder of his followers, started again on his voy- 
age of discovery. "On the third of December," says Hennepin, 
" we embarked, being thirty-three men, in eight canoes, and 
having roAved about twenty-five leagues up the River of the 
Miamies to the south-east, we could not find the place where 
we were to land and carry our canoes and equipage into the 
River of the Illinois,* which falls into the Mississippi. Our 
savage who was hunting ashore, not finding us at the place of 
portage, came higher up the river, and told us we had missed 
it. So we returned and carried our canoes over land to the 
head of the Illinois river, which is but a league and a half 
from that of the Miamies. We continued our course upon 
this river very near the whole month of December, towards 
the end of which we arrived at the village of the Illinois, about 
one hundred and thirty leagues from fort Miamis. 

" We found nobody in the village, which caused a great per- 
plexity among us ; for though we wanted provisions, yet we 
durst not meddle with the corn they had laid under ground for 
their subsistence, and to sow their lands with; it being the 
most sensible wrong one can do them, in their opinion, to take 
some of their corn in their absence. However, our necessity 
being very great, and it being impossible to continue our voy- 
age without it, M. La Salle took about forty bushels of it, 
hoping to appease them with some presents. We embarked 
again w^ith this fresh provision, and fell down the river the 
first of January, 1680, * * * Although we used all the 
precaution we could, we found ourselves on a sudden in the 
middle of the camp of the Illinois, which took up both sides of 
the river. The Illinois being much terrified, though they were 
several thousand men, tendered us the Calumet of Peace, and 
we offered them ours. M. La Salle presented them with Mar- 

*The river Kankakee. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 15 

tinico tobacco, and some axes. He told them, ' he knew how 
necessary their corn was to them ; but that being reduced to 
an unspeakable necessity when he came to their village, and 
seeing no possibility to subsist, he had been forced to take 
some corn from their habitations without their leave : tiiat he 
would give them axes and other things, in lieu of it, if they 
could spare it; and if they could not, they were free to take 
it again.' The savages considered our proposals, granted our 
demands, and made an alliance with us. 

" Some days after, Nikanape, brother to the most consider- 
able man among them, who was then absent, invited us to a 
great feast; and before we sat down, told us, 'that he had 
invited us not so much to give us a treat, as to endeavor to 
dissuade us from the resolution we had taken to so down to 
the sea by the great river Mississippi.' He said, 'that the 
banks of that river were inhabited by barbarous and bloody 
nations, and that several had perished upon the same enter- 
prise.' Our interpreter told him by order of M. La Salle, 'that 
we were much obliged to him for his advice; but that the diffi- 
culties and dangers he had mentioned, would make the enter- 
prise still more glorious : that we feared the Master of the life 
of all men, who ruled the sea and all the world ; and therefore 
would think it happiness to lay down our lives to make his 
name known to all his creatures.' However, Nikanape's dis- 
course had put some of our men under such terrible apprehen- 
sion, that we could never recover their courage, nor remove 
their fears ; so that six of them who had the guard that night, 
(among which were two sawyers, the most necessary of our 
workmen for building our ship,) ran away, taking with them 
what they thought necessary. But considering the country 
through which they were to travel and the season of the year,. 
we may say, that for avoiding an uncertainty, they exposed 
themselves to a most certain danger. M. La Salle seeing those 
six men were gone, exhorted the rest to continue firm in their 
duty; assuring them, that if they Avere afraid of venturing 
themselves upon the river of Mississippi, because of the dan- 
gers Nikanape had mentioned, he would give them leave to 



16 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

return next spring to Canada, and allow them a canoe to make 
their voyage ; whereas they could not venture to return home 
at this time of the year, without exposing themselves to perish 
with hunger, cold, or the hands of the savages. 

"On the fifteenth [January, 1680,] we made choice of an 
eminence on the bank of the river, defended on that side by 
the river, and on two others by two deep ditches made by the 
rains, so that it was accessible only by one way. We cast a 
line to join those two natural ditches, and made the eminence 
steep on every side, supporting the earth with great pieces of 
timber. By the first of March our fort was finished, and we 
named it Crevecoeur,* because the desertion of our men, with 
the difficulties we labored under, had almost broke our hearts. 
We had also built a bark for the continuance of our discovery. 
It was forty-two feet long by the keel, and was in such a for- 
wardness, that we should have been in a condition to sail in a 
very short time, had we been provided with all other neces- 
saries. But hearing nothing of our ship Griffin, and therefore 
wanting the rigging and all other tackle we expected by her, 
we found ourselves in great perplexity, and did not know what 
to do in this sad juncture, being above five hundred leagues 
from Fort Frontenac; whither it was almost impossible to 
return at that time, because the snow made travelling very 
dangerous by land, and the ice made it impracticable to our 
canoes. 

" M. La Salle did now no longer doubt but his beloved 
Griffin was lost; but neither this nor the other difficulties 
dejected him. His great courage buoyed him up, and he 
resolved with three men to return to Fort Frontenac, by land, 
notwithstanding the snow and the unspeakable dangers attend- 
ing so great a journey, and to bring along with him the neces- 
sary things to proceed on our discovery; while I, with two 
men, should go in a canoe to the river Mississippi, to get the 
friendship of the nations inhabiting the banks thereof. Then 
calling his men together, told them, ' he would leave M. Tonti 

♦Broken Heart. — [This fort stood on the western banks of the Illinois river, at the 
lower part of Lake Peoria. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 17 

to command in the fort, and desired them to obey his orders 
in his absence ; to live in a christian union and charity ; to be 
courageous and firm in their design.' He assured them, ' he 
would return with all the speed imaginable, and bring with 
him a fresh supply of meat, ammunition, ^and rigging for our 
bark; and that in the mean time he left them arms and other 
things necessary for a vigorous defence, in case their enemies 
should attack them before his return.' Then telling me, ' that 
he expected that I should depart without further delay,' he 
embraced me, and gave me a Calumet of Peace, with two men 
to manage our canoe, Picard and Ako, to whom he gave some 
commodities to the value of about one thousand livres, [francs] 
to trade with the savages or make presents. He gave to me 
in particular, and for my own use, ten knives, twelve shoe- 
maker's awls or bodkins, a small roll of Martinico tobacco, 
two pounds of rassade, i. e. little pearls or rings of colored 
glass to make bracelets for the savages, and a small parcel of 
needles ; telling me, ' he would have given me a greater quan- 
tity if it had been in his power.' Thus [on the 29th February] 
relying on the providence of God, and receiving the blessing 
of father Gabriel, I embraced all our men, and took my leave 
of M. La Salle."* 

About the 12th of April, 1680, Hennepin and his compan- 
ions were seized by a party of Indians, and carried northward 
as far, at least, as the Falls of St. Anthony. The adventurers 
continued to reside among their captors until the fall of 1680, 
when the Indians permitted thdm to return to Canada. 

La Salle remained at Fort Crevecoeur until the Sth of No- 
vember, 1680, when, leaving that post under the command of 
Tonti, he took his departure for Canada, to obtain supplies and 
reinforcements. On the third day of his journey from Fort 
CreveccBur, he arrived at the principal village of the Illinois 
Indians, "where he thought he ought to build a fort, upon a 
height commanding the whole country, as well to make himself 
master of all the different tribes, as to serve for a retreat and 

•Hennepin's Narrative — Transactions and Col. of the Am. Antiq. Soc. vol. 1, p. 61. 

3 



rs HISTORICAL NOTEiS. 

rampart for the French people." * The height, on which La 
Salle determined to build a fort is now called Rock Fort. It 
stands on the left bank of the river Illinois, in La Salle county. 
It is a cliff of parallel layers of white sandstone, rising about 
two hundred and fifty feet high, nearly perpendicular on three 
sides, and washed at its base by the river. On the fourth side 
it is connected with the adjacent range of hills by a narrow 
peninsular ledge, which can only be ascended by a winding 
path. The summit of Rock Fort, which contains about three- 
fourths of an acre, is covered with a soil of several feet in 
depth-t Having determined to fortify this height, La Salle 
sent a plan to Tonti, and ordered him " to set to work upon it 
without delay." Tonti accordingly went and began the build- 
ing of the fort, which was called Fort St. Louis ; but a spirit 
of insubordination arose among his men, and he soon aban- 
doned the work, and returned to Fort Crevecoeur. Here he 
tarried until the month of September, 1681, when a large 
number of Iroquois warriors, having made an incursion into 
the country of the Illinois, appeared suddenly in the neighbor- 
hood of the fort. Failing in an attempt to make himself a 
mediator between the Iroquois and Illinois, Tonti evacuated 
Fort Crevecoeur, about the middle of September, and with five 
men retired to the shores of Lake Michigan. 

In the spring of 1682, La Salle, with a few recruits, again 
appeared in the country of the Illinois. He placed a small 
garrison in Fort Crevecoeur, renewed his attempt to build Fort 
St. Louis ; and in the month of August again returned to Can- 
ada, to collect reinforcements for his voyage down the Missis- 
sippi. This voyage was commenced on the Illinois river, in 
January, 1683. J On the 2d of February, La Salle and his 
exploring party reached the Mississippi ; and, continuing theii 
voyage down that river, they arrived at its mouth on the 9th 
of April, 1683. There, near the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, 
they built several huts, erected a cross, fastened the arms of 

*Tonti. 

tSchoolcraft. 

INorth American Review, No. CII. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 19 

France upon a tree, and gave to the country which they had 
explored the name of Louisiana. Having thus accompUshed 
the object of his expedition, La Salle returned to Canada, pas- 
sing through the Illinois, and by the way of Michilimackinac. 
In the month of September, before he left the latter post, he 
ordered Tonti to go and finish Fort St. Louis, "He charged 
me," says Tonti, "with the duty to go and finish Fort St. 
Louis, of which he gave me the government, with a full power 
to dispose of the lands in the neighborhood, and left all his 
people under my command, with the exception of six French- 
men, whom he took with him to accompany him to Quebec. 
We departed [from Michilimackinac] on the same day, he for 
Canada, and I for the Illinois." 

When La Salle arrived at Quebec, " he informed the whole 
city of his great discoveries, and of the voluntary submission 
of many different Indian nations to the power of the king of 
France. A Te Deum was celebrated as a thanksgiving for this 
happy accession to the glory of the crown. The eagerness of 
M. de La Salle to go and make known to the king and his 
ministers the success of his travels, obliged him to hasten his 
departure. He left Canada in the early part of the month of 
October, 16S3." * On his arrival in France he was received 
with many marks of distinction by Louis XIV. and his min- 
isters; and the accounts which he gave to his monarch, con- 
cerning the country of Louisiana, induced the king to favor its 
colonization. A squadron of four vessels was fitted out, and 
about two hundred persons embarked in these vessels for the 
purpose of making a settlement at the mouth of the river Mis- 
sissippi. One of the ships was a royal frigate, of forty guns, 
commanded by M. de Beaujeu. La Salle and his principal 
followers embarked on this vessel ; and the small squadron 
sailed from Rochelle, on the 24th of July, 1684. On the 20th 
of September, it arrived at the island of St. Domingo, where, 
by the force of various adverse circumstances, it was detained 
until the 25th of November. After leaving that island, the 
adventurers descried the coast of Floiida on the 28th of De- 

♦ Tonti. 



> 



20 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

cember, 16S4; and La Salle, having heard much about the 
current that set in to the eastward in the Gulf of Mexico, 
supposed that the squadron was far to the eastward of the 
mouth of the river Mississippi. He, therefore, bore away 
westwardly, and, probably, about the 10th of January, 1685, 
passed the mouth of the Mississippi, without perceiving it. 
About the middle of February, the colonists landed at the 
head of the Bay of St. Bernard, and began to make a settle- 
ment on the western bank of the Colorado, in Texas, at a point 
distant more than one hundred leagues from the mouth of the 
Mississippi. Beaujeu, with his vessel, returned to France. 
Of the other ships, one was captured by the Spaniards, and 
two went to pieces on the coast, near the Bay of St. Bernard. 

A plain, impartial, and interesting account of the tragical 
close of the adventurous career of La Salle, is here given in 
the words of Bossu: — "The colonists immediately began erect- 
ing a fort. As soon as the work was somewhat advanced, M. 
de La Salle gave Joutel orders to finish it ; left him the com- 
mand of it, and about one hundred men ; he took the rest of 
his people, and embarked on the river, with the resolution of 
going up as high as he could. Joutel stayed but a short time 
after him in the fort which had been begun ; every night the 
savages were roving in the neighborhood ; the French defend- 
ed themselves against them, but with losses that weakened 
them. On the 14th of July Joutel received an order from M. 
de La Salle to join him with all his people. Many good stout 
men had been killed or taken by the Indians; others were dead 
with fatigue, and the number of sick increased every day : in a 
word nothing could be more unhappy than M. de La Salle's 
situation. He was devoured with grief; but he dissimulated it 
pretty well; by which means his dissimulation degenerated 
into a morose obstinacy. As soon as he saw all his people 
together, he began in good earnest to think of making a settle- 
ment and fortifying it. He was the engineer of his own fort; 
and being always the first to put his hand to work, every body 
worked as well as he could to follow his example. Nothing 
was wanting but to encourage this good will of the people ; 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 21 

but M. de La Salle had not sufficient command of his temper. 
At th.e very time when his people spent their force with work- 
ing, and had but just as much as was absolutely necessary to 
live upon, he could not prevail on himself to relax his severity 
a little, or alter his inflexible temper, which is never seasona- 
ble, and less so in a new settlement. It is not sufficient to 
have courage, health, and watchfulness, to make any underta- 
king succeed. Many other talents are requisite. Moderation, 
patience, and disinterestedness are equally necessary. M. de 
La Salle punished the least faults with severity, and seldom 
any word of comfort came from his mouth to those who suf- 
fered with the greatest constancy. He had, of course, the 
misfortune to see all his people fall into a state of languor and 
despondency, which was more the effect of despair, than of 
excess of labor or scantiness of good nourishment. Having 
given his last orders at his fort, he resolved to advance into the 
country, and began to march* on the 12th of January, 1687, 
with M. de Cavelier his brother, Moranget and the young 
Cavelier his nephews, Father Anastasius, a Franciscan friar, 
Joutel, Duhaut, L'Archeveque, de Marne, a German whose 
name was Hiens, a surgeon named Lietot, the pilot Tessier, 
Saget, and an Indian who was a good huntsman. As they 
advanced further into the country they found it inhabited ; 
and when they were but forty leagues from the nation of the 
Cenis, they heard that there was a Frenchman among those 
Indians. It was a sailor from Lower Bretany, who had lost 
himself when M. de La Salle first came down the Mississippi. 
Joutel went to fetch him from among those Indians. He only 
quitted them to be witness of a crime. 

"The 17th [of March, 1687,] Moranget being on a hunting 
party, and having, as it is said, abused with words Duhaut, 

«In undertaking this third expedition from tiis settlement on the Colorado, it was the 
intention of La Salle " to seek the Mississippi, and go onward to Canada, and thence to 
France, to get new recruits and supplies: " — [N. A. Rev. vol. xlviii, p. 92:] Neverthe- 
ICBS some Spanish writers have regarded this last expedition of La Salle as " a project of 
penetrating into the interior of the country, to see if he could discover the fabulous mines 
of Santa Barbara." — [Letter from the Spanish Minister, Don Luis de Onis, to John <i. 
Adams, in Am. State Papers, vol. xii, p. 30- 



22 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Hiens, and the surgeon Lietot, those three men resolved to get 
rid of him as soon as possible, and to begin with the servant 
of M. de La Salle, and his Indian huntsman, who was called 
Nika, who both accompanied Moranget, and could have defen- 
ded him. They communicated their design to L'Archeveque 
and the pilot Tessier, who approved of it, and desired to take 
part in the execution. They did not speak of it to the Sieur 
de Marne, who was with them, and whom they wished to have 
been able to get away. The next night, while the three un- 
happy victims whom they would sacrifice to revenge, slept 
very quietly, Lietot gave each of them several blows with the 
hatchet on the head. The Indian and the servant died imme- 
diately. Moranget raised himself so as to sit upright, without 
speaking a word ; and the murderers obliged the Sieur de Marne 
to despatch him, threatening to kill him too, if he refused: 
thus, by making him an accomplice of their crime, they wanted 
to secure themselves against his accusing them. The first 
crime is always followed by uneasiness. The greatest villains 
find it difficult to conquer it. The murderers conceived that 
it would not be easy to escape the just vengeance of M. de 
La Salle, unless by preventing him ; and this they resolved 
upon, after deliberating on the means of effecting it. They 
thought the safest way was to meet him, and surprise all that 
accompanied him; and so open themselves a way for the mur- 
der which they intended to perpetrate. So strange a resolu- 
tion could only be inspired by that blind despair which hurries 
villains into the abyss which they dig for themselves. An 
unexpected incident became favorable to them, and delivered 
into their hands the prey which they sought for. A river that 
separated them from the camp, and which was considerably 
increased since they passed it, kept them two days ; this re- 
tardment which, at first, seemed an obstacle to their project, 
facilitated the execution of it. M. de La Salle, wondering 
that his nephew, Moranget, did not return, nor either of the 
two men that were with him, determined to go and seek them 
himself. It was remarked that he was uneasy when he was 
going to set out, and enquired, with a kind of uncommon con- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 23 

cern, whether Moranget had quarrelled with any one. He 
then called Joutel, and entrusted him with the command of his 
camp, ordering him to go his rounds in it irom time to time, 
and to light fires, that the smoke might bring him on his road 
again, in case he should lose his way. He likewise bid him 
give nobody leave to absent himself. He set out on the 20thf 
attended by Father Anastasius and an Indian. As he ap- 
proached the place where the assassins had stopped, he saw 
some eagles soaring pretty near the place, and concluded that 
there was some carrion: he fired his gun; and the conspira- 
tors, who had not yet seen him, guessing that it was he who 
was coming, got their arms in readiness. The river* was 
between them and him. Duhaut and L'Archeveque crossed 
it, and seeing M. de La Salle advancing slowly, they stopped, 
Duhaut hid himself in the long grass, with his gun cocked: 
L'Archeveque advanced a little more; and a moment after, 
M. de La Salle, knowing him, asked him where his nephew 
was. He answered that he was lower down. At the same 
instant Duhaut fired. M. de La Salle received the shot in 
his head, and fell down dead. 

"It was the 20th of March,t 16S7, that this murder was 
committed near the Cenis. Father Anastasius seeing M. de 
La Salle drop down at his -feet, expected that the murderers 
would not spare him, though they should have no other view 
in it than to get rid of a witness of their crime. Duhaut 
came near to quiet him, and told him that what they had 
done was an act of despair, and that they had long thought 
of revenging themselves on Moranget, who had endeavored 
to ruin them. Father Anastasius informed M. Cavelier of 
his brother's death. That gentleman told them, that if it 
was their intention to kill him likewise, he would forgive 
them his death before hand; and he only demanded, as a fa- 
vor, a quarter of an hour to prepare himself for death. They 
rephed that he had nothing to fear, and that nobody com- 
plained of him. Joutel was not then in the camp. L'Arche- 

*A branch of Trinity River, in Texas. 

tMarch 19 — Transactions and Collections of Amer. Antiq. Society, vol. i, p. 101. 



24 . HISTORICAL NOTES. 

veque, who was his friend, ran to inform him that his death 
was certain, if he showed any resentment of what had hap- 
pened, or if he pretended to take advantage of the authority 
with which M. de La Salle had invested him. Joutel, who 
was of a very gentle temper, answered that they should be 
content with his conduct, and that he beUeved that they ought 
to be pleased with the manner in which he had hitherto beha- 
ved; and then he returned to the camp. As soon as Duhaut 
saw Joutel, he called out to him that every one should com- 
mand by turns. He had already taken all the authority into 
his hands, and the first use he made of it, was to make him- 
self master of the magazine. He divided it afterwards with 
L'Archeveque, saying that every thing belonged to him. There 
were about thirty thousand livres worth of goods, and near 
twenty-five thousand livres both in coin and in plate. The 
assassins had force and boldness on their side: they had shewn 
themselves capable of the greatest crimes: accordingly they 
met with no resistance at first. They soon divided, and quar- 
relled among themselves. They found difficulties in dividing 
the treasure ; they came to blows, and Hiens fired his pistol at 
Duhaut's head, who reeled, and fell four yards from the place 
where he stood. At the same time, Rutel, the sailor, whom 
Joutel fetched from the Cenis, fired a gun at Lietot. That 
wretch lived yet several hours, though he had three balls in 
his body. So the two assassins, one of M. de La Salle, and 
the other of his nephew Moranget, were themselves the vic- 
tims of that spirit of fury which they had inspired into this 
unhappy colony. The Indians knew not what to think of 
these murders. They were quite scandalized by them. They 
were in the right, and could with more reason treat those 
Frenchmen as barbarians, than we had to consider them as 
such. Be that as it will, such was the tragic death of Robert 
Cavelier Sieur de La Salle, a man of abilities, of a great extent 
of genius, and of a courage and firmness of mind which might 
have carried him to something very great, if with these good 
quaUties, he had known how to get the better of his sullen, 
morose mind, to soften his severity, or rather the roughness of 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 25 

his temper, and check the haughtiness with which he treated 
not only those who depended entirely upon himself, but even 
his associates." 

In the autumn of 1684, the commandant of Fort St. Louis, 
in the Illinois, was informed by the Governor of Canada that 
La Salle had sailed from Rochelle, with four ships, for the Gulf 
of Mexico. Tonti, therefore, took with him forty men from 
Fort St. Louis, and went down the Mississippi to the Gulf, 
where he waited for La Salle, until Easter Monday, 1685.* 
Disappointed, he was obliged to return ; and on his way up- 
wards, when he came to the Arkansas river, he says, " My 
French companions, delighted with the beauty of the climate, 
asked my permission to settle there. As our intention was 
only to humanize and civilize the savages, by associating with 
them, I readily gave my consent. I formed the plan of a house 
for myself at the Arkansas. I left ten Frenchmen of my com- 
pany there, with four Indians, to proceed with the building,. 
and I gave them leave to lodge there, themselves, and to culti- 
vate as much of the land as they could clear. This little col- 
ony has since thenf so much increased and multiplied, that it 
has become a resting place for the Frenchmen who travel in 
that country." 

Soon after the fall of the conspirators, Duhaut and Lietot, a 
separation took place in the ranks of the surviving adventu- 
rers; the greater number of whom determined to remain 
among the Indians of Texas. Joutel, M. Cavelier, (the brother 
of La Salle,) the priest Anastasius, and four others, who were 
Frenchmen, renewed the attempt to find the river Mississippi, 
and the way to Canada. With the assistance of some Indian 
guides, they reached the river Arkansas, on the 24th of July, 
1687, where they found the small colony which had been 
planted there in 1685, by Tonti. Joutel, and his companions, 
soon took their departure from the French settlement on the 
Arkansas, and continued their route towards Canada. On the 
14th of September, they reached Fort St. Louis, on the Illinois 

♦ American State Papers, vol, xii, p. 90. 
tTonti's Narrative waa published in Paris, 1697- 



26 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

river. At this post Joutel tarried until the month of March, 
1688, when he set off for Quebec, and reached that place in 
the latter part of July of the same year. 

The colony which La Salle had left on the Colorado, near 
the Bay of St. Bernard, was destroyed, in April, 1689, by a 
detachment of Spaniards, from Cohaquila, under the command 
of Alonzo de Leon. 

The death of La Salle, the active hostilities which, in 1689,. 
broke out between the Iroquois and the colonists of Canada,* 
and the wearisome wars in which France was engaged until 
the treaty of Ryswick, in 1697, combined to check the project 
of planting French colonies in the valley of the Mississippi. 
Between the years 1680 and 1700, several missionaries, among 
whom were Gabriel de la Ribourdie, Zenobe Mambre, Sebas- 
tian Rasles, and Jacob Gravier,t successively made efforts to 
instruct and civilize the Illinois Indians. A church "sufficiently 
regular,"! composed of a few Frenchmen, and, probably, a 
very small number of Indians, was founded at or near Fort 
St. Louis, which post was sometimes called the Grand Penasco 
or Great Rock. The war which the Iroquois carried o^n against 
the French and against the Miami and Illinois Indians, was 
the principal cause of the dispersion of the members of this 
church. A party of the Illinois Indians went down the river, 
and settled on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, on a prairie 
which lies about twenty-three miles below the mouth of the 
river Missouri. Missionaries, and a few traders and roving 
adventurers, followed them to their new settlement, which 
was called Cahokia. The traders, generally, formed matri- 
monial alhances with the Indians, and lived in amity with 
them. In the efforts that were made at this time to instruct 
the Ilhnois in the doctrines of the Christian relision, the sue- 

*In the summer of 1689, the French settlement at Montreal was attacked by about 
twelve hundred Iroquois warriors, who " sacked all the plantations, and indiscriminately 
massacred men, women, and children." Two or three hundred of the French were killed, 

and many were carried into captivity. — [Thatcher's Ind. Biog. ii, 48 Drake, book v. 10 

—Bancrofts, 179. 

tThis missionary was the first to ascertain the principles of the Hlinois language, and 
to reduce them to rules [Bancroft, iii, 196. 

lAmerican State Papers, vol, xii, 33. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 27 

cess of the missionaries did not equal their zeal. From the 
20th of March, 1695, to the 22d of February, 1699, seven 
persons were baptised by the missionary Jacob Gravier.* 

The beautiful prairies on the borders of the small river Kas- 
kaskia (which enters the Mississippi at a point about one hun- 
dred miles above the mouth of the Ohio,) attracted the atten- 
tion of the French adventurers in the Illinois country, and, 
about the close of the seventeenth century, a small number of 
them settled on the banks of that river, and became the found- 
ers of the village of Kaskaskia. 

♦ Register of Baptisms in tlic Mission amonj; tlie Illinois. 



CHAPTER II. 

At the time of the discovery of the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi by the French, the crown of Spain claimed the whole 
territory around the Gulf of Mexico from the peninsula of 
Yucatan to the southern cape of Florida, and all the vast re- 
gions lying to the east and north of New Mexico, as far as 
the rivers Mississippi and Missouri. This claim was founded, 
principally, on the discoveries which w^ere made by Juan 
Ponce de Leon, in 1512,* and by Hernando de Soto, between 
the years 1538 and 1542.t France, however, disregarding 
these pretensions of Spain, determined to persevere in her 
efforts to plant a colony at, or near, the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi, and to open an interior communication, for purposes of 
trade, between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. 

The wars in which France and England were engaged, 
from 1688 to 1697, retarded the growth of the colonies of 
those nations in North America; but soon after the peace of 
Ryswick, Louis XIV. determined to send a colony to Louisi- 
ana, and to maintain garrisons there for the protection of the 
colonists. Lemoine D'Ibberville was appointed Governor of 
Louisiana, and John Baptiste de Bienville was appointed Lieu- 
tenant Commandant of the province. Under the direction of 
these ojfficers, in 1698, a number of adventurers emigrated 
from France, and, in the course of the succeeding year, found- 
ed a settlement at Biloxi, on the northern shores of Lake 
Borgne, between Mobile Bay and Lake Pontchartrain. 

The early efforts which were made by France to establish 
colonies in the valley of the Mississippi, excited the jealousy 

*Robertson's America, 101. 

fAmerican State Papers, xii, 27, 28. — [In 1541, Hernando de Soto crossed the Missis- 
sippi, about the 34th degree of north latitude. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 29 

and the fears of some of the EngHsh statesmen of those times. 
In the year 1698, Dr. D'Avenant, Inspector General of the 
Customs, pubHshed some discourses on the Public Revenues 
and Trade of England. In one of these discourses, he said, 
"Should the French settle at the disemboguing of the river 
Mississippi, they would not be long before they made them- 
selves masters of that rich province, which would be an addition 
to their strength very tennble to Europe ; but would more par- 
ticularly concern England: for, by the opportunity of that 
settlement, by erecting forts along the several lakes, between 
that river and Canada, they may intercept all the trade of our 
northern plantations." * 

During the period which elapsed between 1700 and 1712, 
the hostility of the Iroquois confederacy defeated the attempts 
which were made by the French to establish posts in the re- 
gions which lie adjacent to the southern shores of Lake Onta- 
rio and Lake Erie; but, in the month of June, 1701, Antoine 
de Lamotte Cadillac, accompanied by a missionary and one 
hundred men, left Montreal, and, in the month of July arrived 
at the site of Detroit, where the party founded a permanent 
settlement. 

As early as 1705, Louis XIV. invested Lamotte Cadillac 
with power to grant or concede the lands about Detroit, in 
small lots, to French settlers. By the conditions of a grant f 
made by Cadillac, at Detroit, in 1707, the grantee was bound 
to pay a reserved rent of fifteen livres a year to the crown for- 
ever, in peltries, and to begin to clear and improve the con- 
cession within three months from the date of the grant. All 
the timber was reserved to the crown, whenever it might be 
wanted for fortifications, or for the construction of boats or 
other vessels. The property of all mines and minerals was 
reserved to the crown. The privilege of hunting rabbits, 
hares, partridges, and pheasants was reserved to the grantor. 
The grantee was bound to plant, or help to plant a long May- 
pole before the door of the principal Manor-house, on the first 

♦Anderson's History of Commerce, i, 25. 

fThis grant was two arpents in front by twenty in depth. 



30 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

day of May in every year. All the grains of the grantee were 
to be carried to the mill of the manor, to be ground, paying 
the tolls sanctioned by the custom of Paris. On every sale of 
the land, a tax was levied; and, before a sale, the grantee was 
bound to give information to the government, and if the gov- 
ernment was willing to take the land at the price offered to 
the grantee, it was to have it. The grantee could not mort- 
gage the land without the consent of the government. For 
ten years the grantee was not permitted to work, or cause any 
person to work, directly or indirectly, at the profession and 
trade of a blacksmith, locksmith, armorer, or brewer, without 
a permit. All effects and articles of merchandise sent to, or 
brought from, Montreal, were to be sold by the grantee him- 
self, or other person who, with his family, was a French resi- 
dent; and not by servants, or clerks, or foreigners, or stran- 
gers. The grantee was forbidden to sell or trade brandy to 
Indians. He was to suffer on his lands the roads which might 
be thought necessary for the public utility. He was to make 
his fences in a certain manner; and, when called upon, he was 
bound to assist in making his neighbors' fences.* Such were 
the conditions on which the first settlers at Detroit obtained 
grants of land from the commandants at that post. 

Of the early French adventurers who emigrated from Can- 
ada to the western dependencies of that province, some settled 
at Detroit, a few gathered around the post of Michilimacki- 
nac, and others led a rambling life among various tribes of 
the Indians who occupied the territory northwest of the river 
Ohio. Mingled with these adventurers there were some ambi- 
tious and enterprising men who expected to derive great ad- 
vantages from the prosecution of the Fur Trade. This trade 
was carried on by means of men who were hired to manage 
canoes, and to carry burthens of merchandise from the differ- 
ent trading posts to the principal villages of the Indians who 
were at peace with the French. At those villages the traders 
exchanged their wares for valuable furs, with which they re- 
turned to the places of deposit. The articles of merchandise 

*Ainerican State Papers — (Public Lands) — vol. i, p. 261. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 31 

used in the Fur Trade were chiefly coarse blue and red cloths-, 
line scarlet, guns, powder, balls, knives, hatchets, traps, kettles-, 
hoes, blankets, coarse cottons, ribbons, beads, vermillion, to- 
bacco, &c. The poorest class of French fur traders sometimes 
carried their packs of merchandise, by means of leather straps, 
suspended from their shoulders, or resting against their fore- 
heads. It is probable that the Indian villages on the borders 
of the river Wabash were visited, by some of this class of tra- 
ders, before the foundation of the village of Kaskaskia. It has 
been intimated, conjecturally, by a learned author,* that mis- 
sionaries and traders, before the close of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, passed "down south from the St. Joseph, left the Kanka- 
kee to the west, and visited the Tippecanoe, the Eel River and 
the upper parts of the Wabash." 

After Lamotte Cadillac founded a permanent settlement at 
Detroit, and before the close of the year 1712, the Sieur Juch- 
ereau, a Canadian officer, assisted by the missionary Mermet, 
made an attempt to establish a post on the Ohio, near the 
mouth of that river; or, according to some authorities, on the 
river Wabash, at the site which is now occupied by the town 
of Vincennes. A number of the Mascoutins, or prairie Indi- 
ans, were gathered around the post, and the zealous Mermet 
soon opened a public discussion with one of their chief medi- 
cine men who worshipped the Buffalo. " The way I took," 
says Mermet, " was to confound, in the presence of the whole 
tribe, one of these charlatans, whose Manitou, or Great Spirit, 
which he worshipped, was the Buffalo. After leading him on 
insensibly to the avowal that it ivas not the Buffalo that he. wor- 
shipped, but the Manitou, or Spirit, of the Buffalo, which was 
under the earth, and which animated all Buffaloes, which heals 
the sick, and has all power, I asked him if other beasts, the 
Bear, for instance, and which some of his nation worshipped, 
was not equally inhabited by a Manitou, which was under the 
earth?" "Without doubt," said the Grand Medicine. "If 
this is so," said the missionary, " men ought to have a Manitou 
who inhabits them." " Nothing more certain," said the medi- 



*Bishop Brute. 



32 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

cine man. *' Ought not that to convmce you," said Mermet, 
"that you are not very reasonable? For, if man, upon the 
earth, is the master of all animals — if he kills them — if he eats 
them — does it not follow that the Manitou which inhabits him, 
must necessarily have a mastery over all other Manitous? 
Why then do you not invoke him, instead of the Manitou of 
the Bear and the Buffalo, when you are sick? This reasoning 
disconcerted the charlatan ; but this was all the effect it pro- 
duced."* 

A pestilential malady soon broke out among the Indians 
who were settled around this new post, and destroyed many 
of them. " Mermet redoubled the efforts of his charity and 
zeal — exposing his life among the sick, who died in great num- 
bers — thus trying to give them the best evidence of his convic- 
tion. Still the jugglers kept up their delusions. They ordered 
a great sacrifice of some of their dearest possessions — their 
dogs. Forty of these poor animals, innocent as they were of 
the cause of the epidemic, to satisfy their suspicious Manitous, 
were immolated and carried on poles, in a solemn procession, 
round the fort. While the procession was moving, the jugglers 
were uttering exclamations, which, as recorded by Father 
Mermet, were as follows: 'Manitou of the French! do not kill 
us all ! Softly! softly there ! Do not strike too hard ! Spare us ; 
else we all die.' Then, turning to the Father, they would say, 
*0h Manitou, truly thou hast Life and Death in thy sack. 
Keep in Death, and give out Life.' "f The Indians soon moved 
away from the place of mortality ; Mermet retired to the vil- 
lage of Kaskaskia ; and the Sieur Juchereau abandoned his 
post. 

About the year 1712, Gabriel Marest, a missionary, had his 
station at the village of Kaskaskia. On one occasion he trav- 
elled from his station among the Illinois, to Michilimackinac ; 
and he thus described the country over which he passed : — 



*Let. Ed. vi. 333.— Charlevoix, iii, 393.— Judge Law's Address 
before the His. and Antiq. Society of Vincennes, p. 16.~N. A. Rev. 
vol. xlviii, 99. — Bancroft, iii, 196. 

fBishop Brute. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 33 

" We have marched twelve days without meeting a single hu- 
man creature. Sometimes we found ourselves in vast prairies, 
of which we could not see the boundaries, through which there 
flowed many brooks and rivers, but without any path to con- 
duct us. Sometimes we were obliged to open a passage across 
thick forests, through bushes, and underwood filled with briars 
and thorns. Sometimes we had to pass through deep marshes, 
in which we sunk up to the middle. After being fatigued 
through the day we had the earth for our bed, or a few leaves, 
exposed to the wind, the rain, and all the injuries of the air." * 

In the summer of 1712, the post of Detroit was besieged by 
a strong party of the Fox tribe of Indians. The Ottawas, Pot- 
tawattamies, and Hurons, however, marched to the assistance 
of the French. Of the besiegers, a considerable number were 
killed, some were carried off as captives, and the remainder 
were forced to retreat to their country, which lay on the bor- 
ders of the Fox river of Wisconsin. 

The settlement which was made at Biloxi, in 1699, under the 
direction of D'Ibberville and Bienville, was the first attempt 
that was made, after the death of La Salle, to plant a French' 
colony near the Gulf of Mexico. A war broke out betweerr 
England and France in 1702; the French settlement at Biloxi 
was neglected; and it continued to languish until 1712; when, 
on the 14th of September, in that year, the commerce of the 
province of Louisiana was granted by Louis XIV. to- Anthony 
Crozat, who was an officer of the king's household, and a man 
of great wealth. Louis XIV. in his letters patent to Crozat, 
said, "The care we have always had to procure the welfare 
and advantage of our subjects, having induced us, notwith- 
standing the almost continual wars which we have been obli- 
ged to support from the beginning of our reign, to seek for all 
possible opportunity of enlarging and extending the trade of 
our American colonies, we did, in the year sixteen hundred 
and eighty-three, give our orders to undertake a discovery of 
the countries and lands which are situated in the northern part 



*Lettres Edifiantes, ii. 360- — Rob. Am. 477. 



34 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

of America, between New France* and New Mexico; and the 
Sieur de La Salle, to whom we committed that enterprise, 
having had success enough to confirm a belief that communi- 
cation might be settled from New France to the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, by means of large rivers, this obliged us, immediately after 
the peace of Ryswick, to give orders for the establishing a col- 
ony there, and maintaining a garrison, which has kept and 
preserved the possession we had taken, in the very year of 
1683, of the lands, coasts, and islands, which are situated in 
the Gulf of Mexico, between Carolina on the east, and Old 
and New^ Mexico, on the west. But a new war having broken 
out in Europe, shortly after, there was no possibility till now 
of reaping from that new colony the advantages that might 
have been expected from thence; because the private men 
who were concerned in the sea trade, were all under engage- 
ments with other colonies, which they have been obliged to 
follow: And, whereas, upon the information we have received 
concerning the disposition and situation of the said countries^ 
known at present by the name of the Province of Louisiana, 
we are of opinion that there may be established therein a con- 
siderable comn>erce, so much the more advantageous to our 
kingdom, in that there has hitherto been a necessity of fetch- 
ing from foreigners the greatest part of the commodities which 
may be brought from thence; and, because, in exchange there- 
of, we need carry thither nothing but commodities of the 
growth and manufacture of our own kingdom. We have 
resolved to grant the commerce of the country of Louisiana 
to the Sieur Anthony Crozat, our counseller, secretary of the 
household, crown, and revenue, to whom we entrust the exe- 
cution of this project. We are the more readily inclined here- 
unto, because his zeal, and the singular knowledge he has ac- 
quired in maritime commerce, encourage us to hope for as 
good success as he has hitherto had, in the divers and sundry 
enterprizes he has gone upon, and which have procured to our 
kingdom great quantities of gold and silver, in such conjunc- 
tures as have rendered them very welcome to us. 

tCanada,' 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 35 

" For these reasons, being desirous to show our favor to him, 
and to regulate the conditions upon which we mean to grant 
him the said commerce, after having dehberated this affair in 
our own council, of our certain knowledge, full power, and 
royal authority, we, by these presents, signed by our hand, 
have appointed, and do appoint, the said Sieur Crozat, solely 
to carry on a trade in all the lands possessed by us, and bound- 
ed by New Mexico and by the lands of the English of Caro- 
lina, all the establishments, ports, havens, rivers, and princi- 
pally the port and haven of the Isle Dauphine, heretofore called 
Massacre, the river of St. Louis; heretofore called Mississippi, 
from the edge of the sea as fa?' as the Illinois; together with 
the river St. Philip, heretofore called the Missouris, and of St. 
Jerome heretofore called Ouabache, [Wabash] with all the 
countries, territories, lakes within land, and the rivers which 
fall directly or indirectly into that part of the river of St. 
Louis.* 

" Our pleasure is, that all the aforesaid lands, countries, 
streams, rivers, and islands, be and remain comprised under 
the name of the Government of Louisiana, which shall be 
dependent upon the general Government of New France, to 
which it is subordinate: And further, that all the lands which 
we possess from the Illinois, be united, so far as occasion re- 
quires, to the General Government of New France, and be- 
come part thereof; reserving, however, to ourselves, the liberty 
of enlarging, as we shall think fit, the extent of the government 
of the said country of Louisiana. 

" We permit him [the Sieur Crozat] to search for, open, and 
dig, all sorts of mines, veins, and minerals throughout the 

*The North American Review, No. CII. gives tlie names of the Lakes and Rivers of 
the north\ves5, as tliey appear in the writings of t!ie early French travellers. Lake On- 
tario was called Lake Frontetiac. Lake Erie was called Erike, Erige, or Erie, from a na- 
tion of Eries destroyed by the Iroquois ; it was also called Lake of Conti. Lake Huron 
was Karcgnondi, and Lake of Orleans. Lake Michigan was called Lake of Puans, Lake 
of the Illinois, Lake of the Illinese, Lake of the Illinouacks, Lake Mischigonong, and Lake 
of the Dauphin. Lake Superior was called Lake Superieur, and Lake of Conde. Green 
Bay was Baie des Puans. Illinois river was sometimes called River Seignelay. The river 
Ohio was called Ouabouskigou, Ouabachi, Ouabache, Oyo, Ouye, and Belle Riviere. The 
Mississippi river was called River Colbert, River St. Louis, Meschasipi, Meschasabe. Sec. 
Missouri river was called Pekitanoni, Riviere des Osages, Massouritcs, &c. 



36 HISTORICAL NOISES. 

whole extent of the said country of Louisiana, and to trans- 
port the profits thereof into any port of France, during fifteen 
years ; and we grant, in perpetuity, to him, his heirs, and oth- 
ers, claiming under him or them, the profits of, in, and to, the 
mines, veins, and minerals, which he shall bring to bear; pay- 
ing us, in lieu of all claim, the fifth jmrt of the gold and silver 
which the said Sieur Crozat shall cause to be transported to 
France, at his own charges, into what port he pleases, (of 
which fifth we will run the risk of the sea and of war,) and the 
tenth part of what effects he shall draw from the other mines, 
veins, and minerals, which tenth he shall transfer and convey 
to our magazines in the said country of Louisiana. 

" We likewise permit him to search for precious stones and 
pearls, paying us the fifth part, in the same manner as is men- 
tioned for the gold and silver. We will that the Sieur Crozat, 
his heirs, or those claiming under him or them, the perpetual 
right, shall forfeit the propriety of the said mines, veins, and 
minerals, if they discontinue the work during three years; and 
that, in such case, the said mines, veins, and minerals shall be 
fully re-united to our domain, by virtue of this present article, 
without the formality of any process of law, but only an ordi- 
nance of re-union, from the sub-Delegate of the Intendant of 
New France, who shall be in the said country; nor do we 
mean that the said penalty of forfeiture, in default of working 
for three years, be reputed a comminatory penalty. Our edicts, 
ordinances, and customs, and the usages of the mayoralty and 
shrievealty of Paris shall be observed for laws and customs in 
the said country of Louisiana." * 

Crozat was required to send at least two vessels a year, from 
France, to sustain the colonies and maintain the trade of Lou- 
isiana. In 1713, the whole civilized population of the province 
consisted of about four hundred French colonists. Some of 
these colonists carried on a profitable traffic among the Indians; 
others explored the country in various directions, making fruit- 
less attempts to discover mines of the precious metals; and a 
very small number were engaged in agricultural pursuits. 

•Laws, &c. of the U. S. relating to the Public LandB, p. 944. 



HISTORICAL NOTES, 37 

In 1717, after the death of Louis XIV. Crozat, having ac- 
complished little, either for himself or for the advancement of 
the colony, surrendered his grant to the crown of France; 
and, in August, 1717, the province of Louisiana was ceded, by- 
letters patent to the Western Company,* at the head of which 
was the famous banker, John Law. The fifth article of the 
letters patent was in the following words: — "In order to pro- 
vide the said Western Company with the means of making a 
permanent establishment, and to execute all the plans they 
niay form, we have giv^en, granted, and conceded, and by these 
presents, do give, grant, and concede to them, for ever, all the 
lands, coasts, ports, havens, and islands, which form our pro- 
vince of Louisiana, as well, and with the same extent, as we 
had granted it to Mr. Crozat, by our letters patent dated 
the 14th of September, 1712, to enjoy the same in full pro- 
perty, lordship, and justice; reserving to ourselves but only 
fealty and homage, which the said Company shall render to 
jus, and the kings our successors, with a crown of gold of the 
weight of twenty marcs." 

Immediately after the cession of Louisiana to the Western 
Company, that corporation began to make extraordinary efforts 
to increase the strength of the French colonies, in their pro- 
vince. A new government was formed, consisting of a Gov- 
ernor, Intendant, and Royal Council. An edict was issued to 
collect and transport settlers to the valley of the Mississippi; 
and reports were artfully circulated in France, concerning the 
discovery of rich mines of gold and silver in Louisiana. In 
1717, M. Bienville selected the site of New Orleans for a cen- 
tral town for an agricultural and commercial colony, and left 
a company of men at that place to clear the land and build 
houses. In the course of the years 1717 and 1718, the popu- 
lation of the province of Louisiana was increased by the addi- 
tion of about eight hundred French emigrants; and, in the 
latter part of the former year, the directors of the Western 
Company sent M. de Boisbriant, with a small military force, 
to establish a post at or near the village of Kaskaskia, in the 

*Sometim(>8 called the "MiRsisiippi Company." 



38 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Illinois country. In 1718, this officer began to build a small 
fort on the left bank of the Mississippi, at a point about eigh- 
teen miles distant from Kaskaskia. The fortification was called 
Fort Chartres. During the years 1718 and 1719, the French 
population of the district around Kaskaskia and Fort Chartres, 
was augmented considerably, by the influx of adventurers from 
Canada, and from the settlements about New Orleans. Early 
in the year 1719, the Western Company obtained, from the 
crown of France, the exclusive right of trading to the East 
Indies, China, and the South Seas ; and, in consequence of re- 
ceiving this enlarged privilege, it assumed the name of "la 
Compagnie des Indes." While these events were transpiring 
different agents of the company were actively engaged in 
exploring the province of Louisiana, in search of gold and silver 
mines, and " precious stones and pearls." 

In 1719, the Sieur de Lochon " being sent by the company, 
in quality of a founder, and having dug in a place* which had 
been marked out to him, drew up a pretty large quantity of 
ore, a pound whereof, which took four days in smelting, pro- 
duced, as they say, two drachms of silver; but some have sus- 
pected him of putting in this quantity himself A few months 
afterwards he returned thither, and without thinking any thing 
more of the silver, he extracted from two or three thousand 
weight of ore, fourteen pounds of very bad lead, which stood 
him in fourteen hundred francs. Disgusted with a labor which 
was so unprofitable, he returned to France. The company 
persuaded of the truth of the indications which had been given 
them, and that the incapacity of the founder had been the sole 
cause of their bad success, sent, in his room, a Spaniard, called 
Antonio, who had been taken at the siege of Pensacola, had 
afterwards been a galley slave, and boasted much of his having 
wrought in a mine at Mexico. They gave him very conside- 
rable appointments; but he succeeded no better than had done 
the Sieur de Lochon. He was not discouraged himself, and 
others inclined to believe that he had failed from his not being 

♦On the borders of the Marameg river, which enters the Mississippi atiout sixteen 
miles below the city of St. Louis. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 39 

versed in the construction of furnaces. He gave over the 
search after lead, and undertook to make silver. He dug 
down to the rock, which was found to be eight or ten feet in 
thickness ; several pieces of it were blown up, and put into a 
crucible, from Avhence, it was given out, that he extracted 
three or four drachms of silver; but many are still doubtful of 
the truth of this fact. About this time arrived a company of 
the king's miners, under the direction of one La Renaudiere, 
who, resolving to begin with the lead mines was able to do 
nothing; because neither he himself, nor any of his company,- 
were in the least acquainted with the construction of furnaces. 
Nothing can be more surprising than the facility with which 
the company, at that time, exposed themselves to great expen- 
ses, and the little precaution which they took to be satisfied of 
the capacity of those that they employed. La Renaudiere and 
his miners, not being able to procure any lead, a private com- 
pany undertook the mines of the Marameg, and Sieur Renault, 
one of the directors, superintended them with care. In the 
month of June last [1721] he found a bed of lead ore, two feet 
in thickness, running to a great length over a chain of moun- 
tains, where he has now set his people to work. He flatters 
himself that there is silver below the lead. Every body is not 
of his opinion ; but time will discover the truth." * 

The directors of the Indies Company soon endeavored to 
turn the attention of the people of Louisiana from the visionary 
search after gold and silver mines to the cultivation of the soil. 
The growing of rice, tobacco, indigo, &c. was proposed. Fac- 
tories or storehouses were established by the company, at vari- 
ous places, to facilitate trade; and negroes f were imported 

*Oharlevoix. — Vide Schoolcraft's Travels in the central portions of the Mississippi 
valley, p. 236. 

fRobertson, in his Disquisition on ancient India, (p. 69.) says; "In every part of 
America of which the Spaniards took possession, they found that the natives, from their 
indolence or from the injudicious manner of treating them, were incapable of the exertions 
requisite either for working mines, or for cultivating the earth. Eager to find hands more 
industrious and efficient, the Spaniards had recourse to their neighbors the Portuguese, and 
purchased from them negro slaves. Experience soon discovered that they Wete men of a 
more hardy race, and so much better fitted for enduring fatigue, that the labor of one negro 
wag computed to be equal to that of four Americans." In the practice of purchasing negre 



40 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

and sold, on a credit of three years, to colonists who were 
engaged in agricultural pursuits. But, at this time, the French 
inhabitants of the valley of the Mississippi were, with a few 
exceptions, a roving and trafficking race, among whom the 
important interests of agriculture and manufactures were ne- 
glected. A considerable part of their clothing, their arms and 
ammunition, their implements of labor, and even a portion of 
the provisions which they consumed, were imported from 
France and received by them in exchange for furs and peltries. 
The English colonists who were settled on the eastern side of 
the Allegheny mountains, pursued a different system of politi- 
cal economy; and, by fostering the great interest of agriculture 
they laid the foundation of that power which ultimately drove 
France from the vast regions which she claimed in North 
America. 

On the 2d of September, 1721, the Council deputed by the 
king of France for the government of the Indies Company, 
enacted the following ordinance in favor of the French inha-bi- 
tants of Louisiana: 

*' Ordinance of the Commissioners of the Council deputed by 
the King for the government of the Indies Company: — Enacted 
for the benefit of the inhabitants of Louisiana, on the 2d of 
September, 1721. 

The Indies Company having determined, in conformity to 
the intentions of his Majesty, to sustain the Colony of Louisi- 
ana, and to procure for those subjects of his Majesty, and 
others emigrating there, the means of establishing themselves 
therein, and realizing the reasonable fruits of their labor; it 
shall be our first care to place this new colony under better 
regulations than it has been heretofore, by the enactment of 
ordinances that will be transmitted to the inhabitants thereof; 
and at present we have deemed it proper to promulgate to the 
colonists the articles herein following : — 

slaves, the Spaniards were soon imitated by the English and French colonists who settled 
in the warmer climates of \orth America. It is said, however, that Louis XIII. was 
'.xtremely uneasy about a law for the introduction of negro slaves into his colonies : but 
when it was urged to him as the readiest means of their conrersion, he acquieeced with- 
out further scruples. — [Montesq. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 41 

Article I. — Negroes shall be sold to the colonists at the 
rate of 660 livres, India currency, conformably to a preceding 
regulation of the company, in payment of which the colonists 
may execute notes payable in three years, in equal instalments 
from the day of delivery, in tobacco or rice, according to the 
decision of the Directors, upon information received of the 
quality of their respective lands. If, upon the expiration of 
the second year, the purchaser still owes the whole amount of 
his notes, without having made the first annual payment, the 
negroes shall be sold for the benefit of the company, after a 
single demand of payment : and the sale of said negroes shall 
be posted, made known, and published, at all the plantations in 
that District, for the space of one month previous to the day 
of sale. If the proceeds of said sale do not satisfy the debt to 
the company, the debtor shall be held personally liable for the 
payment of the deficit, and shall be conducted to the prison at 
the head-quarters, or the residence of the commandant of the 
District, there to remain until full and complete payment is 
made. 

Article II. — Good and merchantable tobacco, in leaves or 
rolls, will be purchased from the inhabitants at the rate of 
twenty-five livres per one hundred pounds, avoirdupois weight. 
They may deUver it in casks or boxes, at their convenience. 
Those who prefer furnishing it in boxes must make them of 
sufficient size to contain two hundred pounds of well pressed 
tobacco; and to avoid difficulty as to the tare of the boxes, 
they may make an average from the weight of four empty ones 
in every hundred ; the weight of which will serve as a stand- 
ard for the tare of the others. 

Article III. — The tobacco and rice are to be delivered by 
the colonists, at the store-houses at New Biloxi, NeAv Orleans, 
and Mobile, and not elsewhere. Tobacco shall be received at 
the store-houses of either of these places, at the rate of twenty- 
five livres per quintal. 

Article IV.— Rice will be purchased at the rate of twelve 
livres per one hundred pounds, avoirdupois weight; and the 
standard for testing the tare of tobacco boxes shall be observed 
6 



42 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

on rice barrels. If the colonists find it expedient to deliver the 
rice in bales or coverings of rushes, the tare will be ascertained 
by the average weight of four bales in every hundred. 

Article V. — We advise and urge the colonists not to ne- 
glect the manufacture of Silk, and to set out mulberry trees* 
upon their plantations, that they may increase until there are 
people enough in the colony to engage in the manufacture of 
silk, which they ought to regard as an article of considerable 
commercial importance. 

Article VI. — The surplus of other commodities the growth 
of the colony, as well as the products of trade, such as deer 
skins, beaver skins, &c. will be received at New Biloxi, New 
Orleans, and Mobile, at the ordinary established prices of the 
Indies Company. 

Article VII. — Merchandise imported from France shall be 
sold to the inhabitants of the colony, at the following rates, to 
wit : — At Biloxi, at Mobile, and at New Orleans, at fifty per 
cent, advance on the French invoice prices: — At Natchez and 
at Yazoo, at seventy per cent, advance: — At Natchitoches and 
at Arkansas, at eighty per cent, advance : — At Illinois at one 
hundred per cent, advance : and at Alabama at fifty per cent, 
advance. Wine shall be sold at one hundred and twenty livres 
per hogshead: brandy at one hundred and twenty livres per 
barrel ; and the half casks and quarter casks in proportion. 

Article VIII. — Having been informed that the clerks of the 
company have heretofore appropriated to their own use those 
goods most in demand, to sell to the colonists, for their own 
emolument, at higher prices than those established by the com- 
pany, we have prohibited their carrying on any such traffic, 
directly or indirectly, during the period of their employment 
in the service of the company : and in case any of them infringe 
upon our prohibitions, we command the colonists to complain 
of them to the Directors, who shall decree a confiscation of 
their goods, and advise us of the same. 

*In 1622, James I. of England, earnestly exhorted the colonists of Virginia to set 
about the cultivation of Mulberry Trees, and the planting of Vineyards. — [Vide Mac- 
pherson's Annals of Commerce, ii, 317. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 43 

AnxicLE IX. — In order that the colonists may be informed 
as to the goods in the store-liouses of the company, we have 
directed that, on the first days of each month respectively, a 
hst shall be posted up at the door of the company store-houses 
at New Biloxi, New Orleans, and Mobile: and as there may 
happen to be merchandise at New Biloxi, not to be found at 
New Orleans and Mobile, a list of that in the store-house at 
New Biloxi shall be posted up at New Orleans and Mobile ; 
whither it shall be forwarded by the first opportunity offering 
itself in the early part of each month. 

Article X. — There will be sent out to pay the wages of the 
trdops and the daily expenses of the company, pieces of copper 
money that shall have an uniform value, to wit : — Those requi- 
ring twenty to the marc* in weight, rating at eighteen pence; 
those requiring forty to the marc, at nine pence ; and those re- 
quiring eighty to the marc, at four pence and a half. The 
colonists are to receive without objection this coin from the 
soldiers and others, in payment of the articles they may sell ; 
inasmuch as the same coin shall be receivable at the store- 
houses of the company in payment of every description of 
goods, at the same rate, without making any difference be- 
tween it and gold or silver. 

Article XL — We hereby transmit orders for the division 
of the colony of Louisiana into nine districts, which shall be 
known by the following names, to wit: New Orleans, Biloxi, 
Mobile, Alabama, Natchez, Yazoo, Natchitoches, Arkansas, 
and Illinois. The colonists shall be informed, by the Council 
of Louisiana, of the district to which they shall respectively 
belong. There shall be at the head-quarters in each district, 
a commandant and a judge, from whose decisions appeals may 
be had to the Superior Council, established at New Biloxi. 
This regulation is made to enable the colonists to demand from 
the commanding officer of their own district any protection of 
which they may stand in need, and to obviate the necessity of 
their travelling to a distance from their dwellings to obtain 
judicial action upon matters arising among themselves. And 

*Ei''ht ounces. 



44 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

we admonish them to avoid litigation as far as possible, to live 
together in peace and harmony, and render each other mutual 
aid and assistance. 

Article XII. — We exhort them likewise to be more exact 
than they have heretofore been in fulfilling the duties incum- 
bent upon christians, and prescribed by their form of worship: 
And, in order to place them in a condition to discharge these 
duties more satisfactorily, we hereby give directions for the 
establishment of churches and chapels in sufficient numbers to 
enable the colonists to attend divine service, and receive the 
sacraments. 

Done at Paris, the 2d day of September, one thousand seven 
hundred and twenty-one." * 

From 1720 to 1731, the trade and the commerce of Louisiana 
were monopolized by the Indies Company. The laws by which 
the colonists were governed during this period, were arbitrary 
and fatally adverse to the growth and prosperity of the colony. 
The cultivators of the soil, the workers of mines, and the fur 
traders, were held in a species of vassalage, by the force of 
various ordinances, decrees, and regulations. The company 
could, at pleasure, prescribe the prices at which the colonists 
should buy imported goods and wares. It could establish, too, 
the prices of the products raised or manufactured by the inhab- 
itants. The latter were compelled to buy, at a high price, the 
merchandise of the company, and to sell, at a low price, the 
productions of their own industry. It would be difficult to 
devise a system more effectual than this, for checking the pro- 
gress of industry and population in a new colony. The interests 
of the colony and those of the exclusive company were in every 
point diametrically opposite ; and as the latter possessed such 
advantages in the unequal contest that it could prescribe the 
terms of intercourse, the former was compelled not only to buy 
dear and sell cheap, but to suffer the mortification of having 
the increase of its surplus stock discouraged by those very 
persons to whom alone it could dispose of its productions.! 

*Le Code Noir ou Recueil de Reglemens, p. 242. 
fRobertson's Am, 371 — Smith's Inquiry, ii, 171. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 45 

In the District of Illinois the factory or store-house of the 
Indies Company was established at Fort Chartres. The com- 
mandant of that post, and the commissary of the company, 
were, conjointly, invested with power to grant small tracts of 
land to the French inhabitants of their district. The following 
is a translation of a grant which was made by these officers 
in 1722: 

**Pierre Duque Boisbriant, Knight of the Military Order of 
St. Louis, and First King^s Lieutenant of the Province of 
Louisiana, commanding at the Illinois, and Marc Antoine 
de la Loire Des Ursins, Principal Secretary for the Royal 
Indies Company: — 
On the demand of Charles Danie, to grant him a piece of 
land of five arpents in front, on the side of the Mitchiagamia 
river, running north and south, joining to Michel Philip on 
one side, and on the other to Meleque, and in depth east and 
west to the Mississippi. — In consequence, they do grant to the 
said Charles Danie (in soccage) the said land ; whereon he may 
from this date, commence working, clearing, and sowing, in 
expectation of a formal concession, which shall be sent from 
France by Messieurs the Directors of the Royal Indies Com- 
pany. And the said land shall revert to the domain of the 
said company, if the said Charles Danie do not work thereon 

within a year and a day. 

BOISBRIANT, 

DES URSINS. 
May 10, 1722."* 

On the 22d of June, 1722, Boisbriant and Des Ursins grant- 
ed to the missionaries of Cahokia and Tamarois, " a tract of 
four leagues of land square ; bounded on the west by the Mis- 
sissippi, including the adjacent islands, beginning a quarter of 
a league above the little river of Cahokia, and extending south 
and east for quantity." f 

In the month of March, 1724, Louis XV. published the fol- 
lowing ordinance, to serve " as a regulation for the government 

♦American State Papers — Public Lands — ii, 164. 
tAmerican State Papers— Public Lands — ii, 167. 



46 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

and administration of justice, police, discipline, and traffic in 
negro slaves, in the Province of Louisiana." 

"Louis, by the Grace of God, king of France and Navarre, 
to all present, and to come. Greeting: — The Directors of the 
Indies Company having represented that the province and col- 
ony of Louisiana is extensively settled by a great number of 
our subjects who employ negro slaves in the cultivation of the 
soil, we have deemed it consistent with our authority and jus- 
tice, for the preservation of that colony, to establish there a 
system of laws, in order to maintain the discipline of the Apos- 
tolic Roman Catholic Church, and to regulate the estate and 
condition of slaves in the said country. And, desiring to pro- 
vide therefor, and show our subjects residing there, and those 
who may settle there in future, that, although they dwell in 
regions infinitely remote, we are always present to them by the 
extent of our sovereignty and by our earnest study to yield 
them aid: For these reasons, and others moving us thereto, 
by the advice of our Council, and from our certain knowledge, 
plenary power, and royal authority, we have enacted, ordained 
and decreed, and do enact, ordain, and decree, in our will and 
pleasure, as follows: 

Article I. — The edict of the late king Louis XIIL, of glori- 
ous memory, dated the 23d of April, 1615, shall be in force in 
our Province and Colonv of Louisiana; in the execution of 
which, Ave enjoin the directors general of said company, and 
all our officers, to remove from said country all the Jews who 
may have taken up their abode there — the departure of whom, 
as declared enemies of the christian name, we command within 
three months, including the day when these presents are pub- 
lished, under pain of forfeiture of their bodies and estates.* . 

Article IL — All slaves who may be in our said province, 
shall be educated in the Apostolic Roman Catholic religion, 

*In the charter which was granted by James I. to the colonists of Virginia, on the 
23d of May, 1609, the English monarch said, " We do hereby declare that it is our will 
and pleasure that none be permitted to pass in any voyage from time to time to be made 
into the said country, but such as first shall have taken the oath of supremacy." This 
order was made to prevent the settling of Catholics in the colony of Virginia; from which 
colony, in 1642, all Catholic priests were ordered to depart in five days. — [Vide Heuing's 
Statutes, i, 269. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 47 

and be baptised. We command those colonists who purchase 
slaves recently imported, thus to have them instructed and 
baptised, within a reasonable time, under pain of an arbitrary 
fine. We charge the directors general of said company and 
all our officers to enforce this strictly. 

Article III. — We prohibit any other religious rites than 
those of the Apostolic Roman Catholic Church ; requiring that 
those who violate this, shall be punished as rebels, disobedient 
to our commands. We prohibit all meetings for this purpose : 
Such we declare to be unlawful and seditious assemblages, 
subject to the same penalties inflicted upon masters who shall 
permit or suffer it with respect to their slaves. 

Article IV. — No overseers shall be set over the nesrroes to 
prevent their professing the Apostolic Roman Catholic religion, 
under pain of forfeiture of such slaves by the masters appoint- 
ing such overseers, and of arbitrarily punishing the overseers 
who shall have accepted said superintendence. 

Article V. — We admonish all our subjects, of every rank 
and condition to observe, scrupulously, Sundays and holy-days. 
We prohibit their laboring or causing their slaves to labor, on 
those days (from the hour of midnight to the following mid- 
night) in the culture of the soil, or any other service, under 
penalty of a fine and arbitrary punishment to be inflicted upon 
the masters, together with forfeiture of those slaves who shall 
be detected by our officers at work. Reserving to them, nev- 
ertheless, the privilege of sending their slaves to market. 

Article VI. — We prohibit white subjects of both sexes, 
from contracting marriages with the blacks, under pain of pun- 
ishment and an arbitrary fine ; and we prohibit all chaplains of 
vessels, priests, and missionaries, whether secular or regular, 
from solemnizing marriages between them. We also prohibit 
our white subjects, as well as blacks affranchised, or born free, 
from living in a state of concubinage with the slaves ; enacting 
that those who shall have had one or more children by such 
cohabitation, shall be severally condemned, as well as the mas- 
ter permitting it, to pay a fine of three hundred livres. And, 
if they are masters of the slaves by whom they shall have such 



48 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

children, we decree that, beside the fine, they be deprived both 
of the slave and children, who shall be adjudged the property 
of the hospital of the district, without the capacity of subse- 
quent affranchisement. Provided, that this Article is of none 
effect, when the black man, either free-born or manumitted, 
who was not married during such cohabitation with his slave, 
shall espouse her according to the forms prescribed by the 
church; which act shall affranchise her, and make her children 
free and legitimate. 

Article VII. — The solemnities prescribed by the ordinance 
of Blois, and the edict of 1639, in case of marriages, shall be 
observed in respect as well to free persons as to slaves, without 
any necessity for the consent of the father or mother of the 
slave : that of the master being only essential. 

Article VIII. — We expressly prohibit parish priests from 
proceeding to solemnize marriages between slaves, if they do 
not make apparent the consent of their masters. We forbid, 
also, the employment, by masters, of any compulsion with 
their slaves, to marry them against their inclination. 

Article IX. — Children springing from marriages between 
slaves shall be slaves, and shall belong to the masters of the 
wives, and not to those of the husbands, if the husbands and 
wives are owned by different persons. 

Article X. — We decree, that if the husband be a slave and 
the wife a free woman, their children, both male and female, 
shall follow the condition of the mother and be free like her- 
self, notwithstanding the slavery of the father: and, if the 
father be free and the mother a slave, the offspring shall be 
slaves likewise. 

Article XL — Masters shall be obliged to inter in holy 
ground, within the cemeteries set apart for that purpose, their 
slaves who have been baptised; and with regard to those slaves 
who die without baptism, they shall be buried at night, in some 
field adjacent to the place of their decease. 

Article XII. — We prohibit the wearing of any offensive 
arms, or heavy clubs, by the slaves, under pain of the lash, 
and the forfeiture of such arms for the benefit of him who may 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 49 

find the slaves in possession thereof: excepting therefrom those 
who may be sent to the chase by their masters, and such as 
may be bearers of the letters or well known marks of their 
masters. 

Article XIII. — We prohibit, in like manner, the gathering 
together of slaves belonging to different masters, in the day or 
night time, under the pretence of attending weddings, or other- 
wise, at the abode of their masters, or elsewhere, either in the 
highways or in by-places, under pain of corporal punishment 
by whipping and branding: And, in case of repeated offences, 
and other circumstances of aggravation, they may be punished 
with death, at the discretion of the judges. We enjoin all our 
subjects to pursue such offenders, arrest, and conduct them to 
prison, although they be not regular officers, nor have any 
warrant for such offenders. 

Article XIV. — Masters who shall be convicted of having 
permitted or suffered such assemblies, composed of other than 
their own slaves, shall be sentenced in their own proper names 
to repair every damage suffered by their neighbors on account 
of said gatherings, and a fine of thirty livres for the first offence 
and double that amount for a^ repetition thereof. 

Article XY. — We prohibit slaves from exposing to sale in 
market, or carrying to particular houses for the purpose of sale 
any sort of commodity, either of fruits, greens, firewood, herbs, 
or cattle-feed, or any species of grains, or other merchandise, 
cloths or goods, without express permission from their masters, 
evidenced by a pass, or well known marks, under pain of hav- 
ing the articles sold, reclaimed by their masters without resto- 
ration of the price, and a fine of six livres for their benefit, as 
against the purchasers of the fruits, greens, firewood, herbs, 
fodder, or grain: Decreeing in relation to merchandise, cloths, 
or goods, that the delinquent purchasers be sentenced to pay a 
fine of fifteen hundred livres, towards the expense, damage, 
and interest, and that they be prosecuted to the last extremity 
as thievish receivers. 

Article XVI. — We decree, for this purpose, that two per- 
sons shall be appointed as supervisors over each market, by the 
7 



50 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

officers of the Superior Council, or by the inferior justices, to 
examine the wares and merchandise brought there by slaves, 
together with the letters and marks of their masters which 
they may bear. 

Article XVII. — We allow all our subjects inhabiting that 
country to seize every thing with which they may find said 
slaves laden, when they are without any passes or known 
marks of their masters: the articles seized to be delivered 
forthwith to their masters, if their residence be near the place 
where the slaves have been detected in fault; otherwise they 
shall be sent to the nearest store-house of the company, there 
to remain on deposit until the masters shall be notified thereof. 
Article XVIII. — It is our will that the officers of our Supe- 
rior Council in Louisiana shall furnish an opinion as to the 
quantity of food, and the quality of clothing, it is proper for 
masters to furnish their slaves— (which food must be furnished 
in each week, and clothing in each year) — in order that we 
may enact a statute thereupon. In the mean time, we permit 
said officers to regulate, by express provision, said food and 
raiment; interdicting the giving of any kind of spirituous 
liquors by masters to said slaves, in lieu of said victuals and 
clothing. 

Article XIX. — We forbid, in like manner, their releasing 
themselves from the charge of feeding and supporting said 
slaves, by permitting them to labor a certain day in the week 
on their own account. 

Article XX. — Slaves who are not fed, clad, and maintained 
by their masters, may give notice thereof to the Procureur 
General of said Council, or the officers of the inferior courts, 
and place their complaints in their hands: upon which, and 
even of their own accord if the notice shall have come to them 
in some other way, the master shall be prosecuted on the mo- 
tion of the said Procureur General, without cost ; which course 
we direct to be pursued in case of crimes, and cruel treatment 
of slaves by their masters. 

Article XXI. — Slaves enfeebled by old age, sickness, or 
otherwise, whether the debility be incurable or not, shall be 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 51 

maintained and supported by their masters; and, in case they 
have abandoned them, said slaves shall be quartered upon the 
nearest hospital, to which their masters shall be condemned to 
pay eight sous per day for the maintenance and support of 
each slave — for the payment of which sum said hospital shall 
have a lien upon the plantations of said masters, into whose 
possession soever they may pass. 

Article XXII. — We declare slaves to be incapable of hold- 
ing any thing which may not belong to their masters, and all 
things obtained through their own industry or the liberality of 
other persons, or otherwise, by what title soever, to be acqui- 
red as the property of the masters, without enabling the chil- 
dren of said slaves, their parents, relatives, or any others, to 
assert any right thereto, by succession, by donation when 
alive, or causa mortis: Such transfers we declare null, together 
with all the promises and obligations made by them, as being 
contracted by a race incapable of transferring and contracting 
by their own free will. 

Article XXIII. — It is our will, nevertheless, that the mas- 
ters should keep whatever the slaves have earned by their 
direction, together with the materials with which they have 
carried on employment and traded in their workshops in that 
particular branch of business to which their masters have 
appointed them; and in case their masters shall have given 
them no such direction or appointment they shall be bound 
only to an equivalent to that which shall have resulted to their 
advantage; and if nothing has so resulted, the substance be- 
longing to said slaves, which their masters may have suifered 
them to accumulate, shall be reserved, after the masters have 
deducted of their own choice, whatever is owing to them. It 
is otherwise if the property consisted, in whole or in part, of 
merchandise with which slaves had permission to traffic on 
shares — upon which their masters can only come in for contri- 
bution, at the rate of one sous upon every livre, with the other 
creditors. 

Article XXIV. — Slaves shall not be eligible for office, nor 
any commission exercising a public function, nor for appoint- 



52 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

ment as agents by others, except by their masters, to carry 
on and manage any business ; nor as umpires, or supervisors : 
neither can they be witnesses in civil or criminal cases, unless 
they are absolutely necessary, and only through a want of 
white testimony; but in no case can they serve as witnesses 
either for or asjainst their masters. 

Article XXV. — Slaves cannot be parties, nor the subjects 
of judgment, in any civil case, either as plaintiffs or defendants; 
nor civil parties in a criminal matter : — allowing their masters 
to sue and defend for them in a civil case ; and to prosecute, 
in a criminal one, the redress of any grievances and injuries 
which shall have been committed towards their slaves. 

Article XXVI. — Criminal prosecutions may be had against 
slaves without the necessity of making their masters parties, 
except in case of accomplices ; and the slaves accused shall be 
judged in the first instance by the ordinary judges, if there are 
any at that place, and by appeal to the Council upon the same 
process, and with the same formalities, as in cases of free per- 
sons, except as hereinafter mentioned. 

Article XXVII. — The slave who shall have struck its mas- 
ter, mistress, the husband of its mistress, or their children, so 
as to bruise, draw blood, or upon the face, shall be punished 
with death. 

Article XXVIII. — And as to the abuse and violence which 
shall be offered by slaves to free persons, we decree that they 
be punished severely therefor, even unto death, if there be 
occasion. 

Article XXIX. — Certain thefts, as those of horses, mares, 
mules, oxen, or cows, committed by slaves or by free negroes, 
shall be punished with a rigorous penalty, even that of death, 
if the occasion require it. 

Article XXX. — The stealing of sheep, goats, swine, poul- 
try, grain, cattle-feed, peas, beans, or other greens and provis- 
ions, perpetrated by slaves, shall be punished, according to the 
degree of the offence, by the judges, who may, if there be occa- 
sion, sentence such slaves to be whipped with rods by the 
executioner of the high court, and branded with a fleur-de-lys. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 53 

Article XXXI. — Masters shall be obliged in case of theft 
or other injury committed by their slaves, (besides the corporal 
punishment inflicted upon them) to repair the wrong in their 
own names, unless they prefer delivering the slave over to the 
injured party — upon one of which courses they must decide 
within three days, otherwise they shall lose their option. 

Article XXXII. — The fugitive slave who shall have run 
away for the space of one month, counting from the day on 
which his master shall have reported him to the court, shall 
have his ears cut off, and be branded with a fleur-de-lys upon 
one shoulder: and if he repeat the offence for the space of 
another month, including in like manner the day of his being 
informed against, he shall be hamstrung and branded with a 
fleur-de-lys upon the other shoulder: and the third offence 
shall be punished Avith death. 

Article XXXIII. — We decree that slaves who have endu- 
red the punishment of the lash, of branding and of ear-lopping, 
shall be tried, in cases of the last resort, by the ordinary judges; 
and executed without it being necessary for such judgments to 
be confirmed by the Superior Council, notwithstanding the 
provisions in the twenty-sixth Article of these presents, which 
have reference only to judgments sentencing to death or to 
hamstringing. 

Article XXXIV. — Negroes, free-born or manumitted, who 
shall harbor in their dwellings fugitive slaves, shall be senten- 
ced to bodily service for the master, in a fine of thirty livres 
for each day of such harboring ; and other free persons who 
shall have afforded such a refuge, in a fine of ten livres for 
each day of such harboring: and, on the failure of such negroes 
either manumitted or free born, to pay, on account of inability, 
they shall be reduced to slavery and sold ; and if the proceeds 
of the sale exceed the fine, the surplus shall be given over to 
the hospital. 

Article XXXV. — We freely permit our subjects in said 
country, who shall have runaway slaves in any place whatsor 
ever, to institute a search through such persons or in such 



54 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

manner as they deem proper, or to make such search them^ 
selves, as shall seem best. 

Article XXXVI. — The slave condemned to death upon the 
accusation of his master who shall not be an accomplice in the 
crime, shall, before execution, be appraised by two respectable 
inhabitants, to be nominated for that duty by the judge, and 
the amount of the appraisement shall be paid ; to satisfy which 
our Superior Council shall tax upon the head of every negro 
the sum fixed by the appraisement, which shall be proportioned 
to all the said negroes, and levied by those appointed for that 
purpose. 

Article XXXVII. — We prohibit all officers of our said 
council, and other officers of justice settled in said country, 
from taking any cost fee in criminal proceedings against slaves, 
under the penalties visited upon extortion. 

Article XXXVIII. — We prohibit all our subjects in said 
country, of every rank and condition, from putting their slaves, 
or causing them to be put by their authority, to the torture or 
rack, under any pretence whatsoever — or from -inflicting or 
causing to be inflicted any mutilation of the limbs, under pen- 
alty of forfeiting the slaves and being prosecuted to the last 
extremity: — Permitting them only, when they believe their 
slaves deserve it, to have them tied up and whipped with rods 
or cords. 

Article XXXIX. — We direct our officers of justice, resi- 
ding in said country, to prosecute by criminal process, masters 
or overseers who shall have killed their slaves, or mutilated 
their limbs while in their power or under their direction, and 
to punish the murder according to the heinousness of the 
off*ence: and in case there may be cause for pardon, we permit 
the acquittal of both master and overseer: without this, they 
must obtain fi'om us letters of free pardon. 

Article XL. — We decree that slaves be accounted mova- 
bles, and as such be embraced in the community — that there 
can be no claim by mortgage upon them — that they be divi-r 
ded equally among the heirs without respect to jointure or 
right of seniority — and that they be not subject to common 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 55 

jointure, to hereditary or feudal redemption, to feudal or 
seignorial rights, to the formality of decrees, nor to the parti- 
tion of the four-fifths in case of transfers causa mortis, or 
testamentary. 

Article XLI. — We do not mean, nevertheless, to deprive 
our subjects of the power of treating them as property belong- 
ing to their persons, and to those of their family and race, so 
that they may be used instead of sums of money, or other 
movable things. 

Article XLII. — The forms prescribed by our ordinances 
and by the custom of Paris, for the seizure of movable pro- 
perty, shall be observed in the seizure of slaves: Decreeing 
that the proceeds accruing therefrom be distributed in the 
order of the seizures ; and in case of insufficiency, at the rate 
of one sous upon the livre, after privileged debts shall have 
been paid — and, generally, that the condition of the slave 
may be regulated as other movable property. 

Article XLIIL— We decree, nevertheless, that the husband, 
his wife, and their children under age, cannot be seized and 
sold separately, if they are all within the power of one and the 
same master — declaring void seizures and separate sales which 
may be made of them. This rule, it is also our will, should 
govern in voluntary sales, under a penalty to be inflicted on 
those effecting such sales, of surrendering that one or those 
over whom they had control, who are adjudged to the purcha- 
sers without their being compelled to pay any remainder due 
upon the price of sale. 

Article XLIV. — It is also our will that slaves of the age of 
forty years and upwards to that of sixty, attached to the lands 
and tenements and engaged in actual labor there, shall not be 
seized for any other debts than what may be due upon the 
price of their original purchase, unless the lands and tenements 
were actually seized; in which case we direct that they be 
included in the actual seizure, and prohibit, as nullities, all 
proceedings by actual distress and adjudication by decree upon 
the lands and tenements without embracing slaves of the afore- 
said age engaged there in actual service. 



56 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Article XLV. — The farmer or lessee of lands or tenements 
actually distrained, slaves included, shall be liable to pay over 
the consideration money of his lease, without reckoning among 
the profits collected, those children who may be born of slaves 
during the term of his said lease. 

Article XLVI. — We decree, notwithstanding all articles to 
the contrary, which we hereby repeal, that the aforementioned 
children may be retained by the party suffering the distress, if 
the creditors are satisfied in some other way, or to the highest 
bidder if he interpose a decree ; and, for this purpose, mention 
shall be made in the last advertisement of the intervention of 
said decree, of the children born of slaves since the actual 
distress, as well as of slaves deceased since that distress in 
which they were included. 

Article XLVII. — To avoid the expenses and delays of pro- 
cess, we decree that the distribution of the whole cost of the 
adjudication, relating equally to the real estate and the slaves, 
and what may accrue upon the expenses of an equitable 
decision, shall be made among the creditors according to the 
precedence of their liens and mortgages, without making any 
distinction of that which is for the price of the slaves; and not 
even the feudal and manorial claims are to be discharged ex- 
cept in proportion to the real estate. 

Article XLVIII. — The kindred and feudal seignors shall 
not be permitted to redeem the lands decreed, sold at auction, 
or voluntarily, unless they also redeem the slaves sold jointly 
with those lands upon which they have been engaged in actual 
labor — nor are the highest bidders or purchasers to retain the 
slaves without the lands. 

Article XLIX. — We direct ail guardians, both noblemen 
and commoners, tenants, lessees, and others enjoying the 
profits of lands to which are attached slaves who labor there- 
upon, to govern them in a parental manner: In consideration 
of which they shall not be compelled, after their term of man- 
agement has expired, to account for those who have died, or 
been enfeebled by sickness, old age, or otherwise without fault 
of theirs : but they may not retain as profits for their advan- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 57 

tage the children born of said slaves, during their term of ad- 
ministration, whom we direct to be maintained and given up 
to those who are their owners and proprietors. 

Article L. — Masters of the age of twenty-five years may 
manumit their slaves by any act between the living, or causa 
inortis: and meantime as masters are often found sufficiently 
mercenary to fix the liberty of their slaves at a certain price, 
frequently leading them thereby to commit theft and robbery, 
we prohibit all persons, of what rank or condition soever, from 
aftranchising their slaves without having obtained permission 
therefor by decree from our said Superior Council, Avhich per- 
mission shall be granted without cost, when the reasons assign- 
ed by the master appear legitimate. We pronounce manu- 
missions made in future without these permissions void, and 
the persons manumitted incapable of profiting by them, or 
being recognised as free: We ordain, on the contrary, that 
they may be held, accounted, and reputed, slaves — that their 
masters may be deprived of them, and they be confiscated to 
the benefit of the Indies Company. 

Article LI. — We decree, nevertheless, that slaves who shall 
have been appointed by their masters guardians of their chil- 
dren, may be considered and accounted as we consider and 
account those for persons affranchised. 

Article LII. — We declare aff'ranchisements made according 
to the forms heretofore prescribed, to be equivalent to nativity 
in our said Province of Louisiana; and that the persons so 
afii'anchised do not require our letters of naturalization in 
order to enjoy the privileges of the native born subjects of our 
kingdom, lands, and countries within our sovereignty, although 
they be born in foreign lands. We nevertheless declare the 
aforesaid affi-anchised persons, together with the free negroes, 
incapable of receiving from the whites any gift, as between the 
living, causa mortis, or otherwise : Decreeing that if any should 
be made, they are void, and they may be appropriated to the 
nearest hospital. 

Article LIII. — We command affranchised persons to act 
with the greatest respect towards their former masters, to- 
8 



58 HISTORICAL NOTES, 

wards their widows, and towards their children; insomuch 
that any injury they may do them shall be punished more 
severely than if committed against any other persons; the 
directors being always free and clear as regards them of all 
other charges, duties, and profitable services to which their 
former masters would have laid claim, as well upon their per- 
sons as upon their goods and inheritances, in the relation of 
masters. 

Article LIV. — We grant to persons aflfranchised the same 
rights, privileges, and immunities enjoyed by those born free: 
Decreeing that the blessings of liberty thus purchased, shall 
effect for them, as well with respect to their persons as their 
property, the same objects that result from the advantage of 
natural freedom to our other subjects: and all this, notwith- 
standing the exceptions specified in Article fifty-second of these 
presents. 

Article LV. — We declare those confiscations and fines of 
which no particular appropriation has been made by these 
presents, to belong to the said Indies Company — to be paid 
over to those who superintend the receipt of the taxes and 
revenues : Decreeing, nevertheless, that one third part of said 
confiscations and fines be set apart for the benefit of the hospi- 
tal nearest the place where they shall have been decreed. 

So we proclaim as a mandate to our well-beloved and trusty 
servants composing our Superior Council in Louisiann, that 
they cause these presents to be i-ead, published, and registered, 
to guard what is contained therein, and observe them accord- 
ing to their form and tenor — all ordinances, declarations, de- 
crees, regulations, and usages to the contrary notwithstanding, 
which we have repealed, and do hereby repeal, by these pre- 
sents. For such is our pleasure. And in order that this may 
be made firm and binding, we have caused our seal to be affix- 
ed thereto. — Given at Versailles, in the month of March, in 
the year of Grace one thousand seven hundred and twenty- 
four. — Signed, Louis."* 

*Le Code Noir ou Recueil de Reglemens, p. 281. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 59 

The pacific relations which were maintained between Eng- 
land and France, from 1713 to 1744, were favorable to the 
growth of the French and English colonies in North America; 
but the grasping poUcy of the Indies Company was strongly 
opposed and often frustrated by the Spaniards of Florida, and 
by the Indian tribes who inhabited the country on the borders 
of the river Mississippi, south of the thirty-sixth degree of 
north latitude. In 1729, the French settlements at Natchez, 
and those on the Yazoo and Washita, were destroyed by the 
Natchez Indians. These settlements, collectively, comprised 
within their limits about seven hundred colonists, "of whom 
scarcely enough survived to carry the tidings of the destruction 
to the capital."* In the course of the next year, 1730, the 
Natchez nation of Indians was exterminated by the French. 
Hundreds were massacred; a few sought refuge among the 
Chickasaws and were adopted by that tribe, and many were 
taken and reduced to slavery. These acts of injustice and 
oppression were the last memorable events that signalized the 
administration of the Indies Company in North America. 

♦Flint. 



CHAPTER III. 

When the Indies Company gave up their charter, on the 
10th of April, 1732, France resumed the government of Lou- 
isiana. The Governor-General, and the Intendant of the Pro- 
vince, jointly, were authorized to grant lands to settlers; and 
all concessions or grants of lands which were made without 
the sanction of these officers were void. M. D'Artuguiette was 
appointed " commandant-general for the king, for the province 
of Illinois," and a small military force was stationed at Fort 
Chartres, A code of laws, entitled the Common law of Paris, 
was nominally, but never eflectively, extended over the district 
of Illinois. Many parts of that code were inapplicable to the 
unsettled state of the colony; and, even those general laws 
which were applicable to the condition of the people, were not 
enforced with strictness, nor with uniformity. The command- 
ants, at the different posts, exercised an arbitrary authority 
over the French population within their respective jurisdic- 
tions; but the government which was administered by these 
officers was neither oppressive nor complex. 

The Indies Company had engaged in the prosecution of its 
designs many men of education, talents, and enterprise. After 
the failure of the projects of the company, some of this class of 
adventurers returned to France; some established their resi- 
dence at New Orleans; others settled in Canada; and a very 
small number remained in the Illinois country. The more 
numerous class of colonists who had been attracted to this 
district was composed of indigent and illiterate persons. Few 
of them had come prepared for either agricultural or commer- 
cial pursuits, "and when the dreams of sudden wealth, with 
which they had been deluded, faded from befoi*e them, they 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 61 

were not disposed to engage in the ordinary employments of 
enlightened industry. The few who were engaged in mercan- 
tile pursuits, turned their attention almost exclusively to the 
traffic with the Indians, while a large number became hunters 
and boatmen."* 

The Chickasaws had for a long time obstinately opposed 
the advancement of the French settlements on the Mississippi 
between New Orleans and the Illinois ; and the hostiUty of this 
tribe of Indians constituted one of the principal obstacles which 
prevented a regular and safe communication between Canada 
and the southern settlements of Louisiana. The French au- 
thorities of these Provinces therefore determined to concen- 
trate a strong military force in the country of the Chickasaws, 
in order to subdue the power of that hostile tribe. In the year 
1736, about two hundred French and four hundred Indians,t 
under the command of M. D'Artuguiette, moved from the 
place of rendezvous in the Illinois district, and passed down 
the Mississippi, to form a junction with another mihtary force 
which had been recruited under Bienville, at the south. Fran- 
cis Morgan de Vincennes, who was an officer of the king's 
troops, and a commandant of a small post on the river Wabash, 
accompanied the expedition under D'Artuguiette. The party 
commanded by Bienville did not reach the place of rendezvous 
at the time which had been appointed to form a junction with 
the Illinois forces, and D'Artuguiette and Vincennes, without 
waiting for the arrival of the expected reinforcement, com- 
menced hostilities by attacking and destroying some small 
villages which were inhabited by a few of the hostile Indians. 
The Chickasaw warriors soon assembled in considerable num- 
bers, and defeated their assailants. About forty Frenchmen 
and eight of their Indian allies were killed in the conflict; and 
many of the invading party were captured and afterwards 
burnt at the stake. Among those who perished in this expe- 
dition was M. de Vincennes, " who ceased not until his last 



*HalI. 

tHoImes' Annals, ii, 8.— Bancroft, iii, 367, says "about fifty French soldiers, and 
more than a thousand red men." 



62 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

breath to exhort the men to behave worthy of their religion 
and their country."* 

The expedition which marched from the south, was forced 
to retreat, and Bienville, soon afterwards, was constrained to 
conclude a treaty of peace with the Chickasaws. During a 
period of about twelve years, succeeding the conclusion of this 
treaty, no event of great interest occurred, to affect either the 
peace or the general condition of the French settlements in 
the west. The war which broke out between England and 
France in 1744, and lasted until the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 
in 1748, involved in its struggles the French and the English 
colonies situated near the Atlantic coast ; but the tranquillity 
of the isolated French population in the Illinois country, was 
not materially disturbed by the events of this remote warfare. 

The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle did not settle the controversy 
which existed between England and France, relating to the 
boundaries of their respective possessions in North America. 
While the former claimed the right of extending her dominions 
indefinitely westward of her possessions on the Atlantic coast, 
the latter claimed the whole valley of the Mississippi, and, from 
174S to 1760, opposed all the attempts which were made by 
the Eno-lish to establish settlements on the western side of the 

O 

Allegheny mountains. As early as 1716, Governor SpotsAvood, 
of Virginia, proposed a plan for forming a company to settle 
the lands on the river Ohio ; but the scheme was frustrated, 
" partly by the indolence and timidity of the British ministry, 
who were afraid of giving umbrage to the French."! From 
the time of the failure of this plan until the year 1748, the 
English made no direct attempts to extend their trade or their 
settlements as far westward as the river Ohio; although, in 
1729, a Mr. Joshua Gee published an ingenious discourse on 
trade, in which he earnestly urged the planting of British col- 
onies westward as far as the Mississippi, and on the rivers 
falling into it.J The French, however, continued to advance 

♦Charlevoix. 
fSraollett, ii, 125. 
lAnderson's His. of Commerce. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 63 

their missionary stations, and their trading posts in the west.* 
By this means they hoped, not only to fortify the power of 
France in those regions, but to exclude the English from any 
communication or traffic with the Indian tribes that inhabited 
the country lying on the western side of the Allegheny moun- 
tains. But the commercial spirit of the French did not keep 
pace with their ambition. They could not supply all the tribes 
with the necessaries they wanted; and some of the western 
Indians, therefore, had recourse to the English settlements. 
This intercourse soon induced the British traders to make 
efforts to establish a regular traffic among the Indians who 
dwelt on the borders of the river Ohio. 

In 1748, a treaty of alliance and friendship was concluded, 
at Lancaster in the Province of Pennsylvania, between the 
English and the Twightwees.f This was the first connexion 
which the English formed between themselves and the pow- 
erful Miami confederacy. A literal copy of this treaty is here 
inserted : 

"Whereas at an Indian treaty held at Lancaster, in the 
County of Lancaster in the Province of Pennsilvania on Wed- 
nesday the twentieth Day of July instant Before the Honora- 
ble Benjamin Shoemaker Joseph Turner and William Logan 
Esquires by Virtue of a Commission under the Great Seal of 
the said Province dated at Philadelphia the sixteenth Day of 
the said month Three Indian Chiefs Deputies from the Twigh- 
twees a Nation of Indians scituate on or about the River 
Ouabache a Branch of the River ?>Iissisippi viz. Aquenackqua 
Assepansa Natoeequeha appeared in Behalf of themselves and 
their Nation J and prayed that the Twightwees might be ad- 
mitted into the Friendship and Alliance of the King of Great 
Brittain and his Subjects, professing on their parts to become 
true and faithfull Friends and Allies to the English and so for 

tDuring the year 1743, the peltrj* imported from Canada to the port of Rochelle, in 
France, was worth about 120,000 pounds sterling. The total amount of sales of the [Eng- 
lish] Hudson Bay Company during the same year, was 33,296 pounds sterling. — [Ander- 
son's His. Commerce, iii, 237, 239. 

tMiamies. 

tThcse Deputies represented twelve towns. 



64 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

ever to Continue, and Scayroyiady Cadarianirha Chiefs of the 
Oneida Nation, Suchrachery of the Seneka Nation, Cani-ineco- 
don Cunlyuchqua Echnissia of the Mohocks * * * Dawachca- 
micky Dominy Buck Ossoghqua of the Shawanese and Nenat- 
chiehon of the Delawares ****** all of them Nations in 
Friendship and Alliance with the English becoming Earnest 
Intercessors with the said Commissioners on their Behalf the 
Prayer of the said Deputies of the Twightwees was Granted 
and a firm Treaty of Alliance and Friendship was then stipula- 
ted and Agreed on Between the said Commissioners and the 
said Deputies of the Twightwee Nation as by the Records of 
Council remaining at Philadelphia in the said Province may 
more fully appear. Now these Presents Witness and It is 
hereby declared That the Said Nation of Indians called the 
Twightwees are accepted by the said Commissioners as Good 
Friends and Allies of the Endish Nation and That Thev the 
said Twightwees and the Subjects of the King of Great Brit- 
tain shall forever hereafter be as One Head and One Heart and 
live in true friendship as one people. In consideration whereof 
the said Aquenackqua Assepansa Natoeequeha Deputies of the 
said Twightwee Nation do hereby in Behalf of the said Nation 
Covenant Promise and Declare That the several people of the 
said Twightwee Nation or any of them shall not at any time 
hurt Injure or Defraud or Suffer to be hurt Injured or Defraud- 
ed any of the Subjects of the King of Great Brittain either in 
their persons or Estates, But shall at all times readily Do Jus- 
tice and perform to them all acts and offices of Friendship and 
Goodwill. Item: That the said Twightwee Nation by the Alh- 
ance aforesaid becoming Intitled to the priviledge and protec- 
tion of the English Laws They shall at all times behave them- 
selves Regularly and Soberly according to the laws of this 
Government whilst they shall live or be amongst or Near the 
Christian Inhabitants thereof. Item: That none of the said 
Nation shall at any time be Aiding Assisting or Abetting to or 
with any Other Nation whether of Indians or Others that shall 
not then be in Amity with the Crown of England and this Gov- 
ernment. Item: That if at any time any of the said Twightwee 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 65 

Nation by means of Evil Minded Persons and Sowers of Sedi- 
tion should hear of any Unkind or Disadvantageous Reports of 
the English, as if they had Evil Designs Against Any of the 
said Indians, In such case such Indians shall send Notice there- 
of to the Governor of the Province for the Time Being and 
shall not Give Credit to the Reports till by that means They 
shall be fully satisfied of the Truth thereof. And It is Agreed 
That the English in such case shall do the same by them. — In 
Testimony whereof as well the said Commissioners as the said 
Deputies of the Twightwee Nation have Smoked y^ Calumet 
Pipe made mutual Presents to each Other and hereunto sett 
their Hands and Seals the Twenty-third Day of July in the 
Year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Forty- 
Eight, and in the Twenty-second Year of the Reign of George 
the Second King of Great Brittain France and Ireland Defen- 
der of the Faith &c.'^ 

The treaty was " signed, sealed, and delivered in the pre- 
sence of Richard Peters, Secretary, Conrad Weiser, Interpreter, 
Andrew Montour, Interpreter, Geo. Croghan, Jon. Forsythe, 
Conrad Doll, Michael Hubby, Andrew Parit, Tho. CooksOn, 
Peter Warrall, Ed. Smout, Adam Simon Kuhn, David Stout, 
and Geo. Smith." 

In the year 174S, Thomas Lee, one of the King's Council in 
Virginia, formed the design of effecting settlements on the wild 
lands west of the Allegheny mountains, through the agency of 
a company. Mr. Lee associated himself with Mr. Hanbury, a 
merchant of London, and with twelve other persons, some of 
whom resided in Virginia; others were citizens of Maryland. 
The association was called the Ohio Company. A petition 
was presented to the king in behalf of the members of this 
company, and, in 1749, they received a grant of half a million 
of acres* of land lying about the river Ohio. The grantees 
were also invested with an exclusive privilege of trading with 
the Indian tribes. 

From the foundation of the English and French settlements 
in North America till this period the British colonial policy 

♦Washington's writings, ii, 483. 

9 



6Q HISTORICAL NOTES. 

was in no small degree favorable to the interests of agriculture 
' and manufactures, while the unsettled, grasping, and magnifi- 
cent policy of France gave to those important branches of 
national industry no beneficial encouragement. Even as late 
as 1734, a number of the French inhabitants of the fertile 
country about Detroit, reported to the Governor-General of 
Canada, that -' they had not dared to undertake any clearings 
and establish farms, because they had no titles which could 
secure to them the property thereof." * In the course of half 
a century, these dilferent systems of colonial government, com- 
bined with the operation of other causes, produced an aston- 
ishing change in relation to the strength, respectively, of the 
English and French colonies in America. The white popula- 
tion of the former, in 17-19, was estimated at one million and 
fifty-one thousand, while that of the latter was computed at 
only fifty-two thousand souls.f Notwithstanding this apparent 
disparity of numbers, the French immediately began to take 
active measures to defeat the schemes of the Ohio Company. 

In 1749, Louis Celeron, "Knight of the military order of St. 
Louis," was sent by the Governor-General of Canada, with a 
small expedition " for the purpose of depositing medals at all 
important places in the country claimed by France in the west 
— such as the mouths of the most considerable streams, &c."J 

On the 17th of January, 1750, Mr. Hamilton, the Governor 
of Pennsylvania, laid before his council a letter from Celeron, 
dated *' Camp on the river Ohio, at an old Shawanee village." 
In this letter the French ofiicer stated that he was surprised to 
find Enolish traders from Pennsylvania in a country to which 
England never had any claim ; and he requested the Governor 
to forbid their future hitrusion, and to advise them of their 
danger in trespassing on the territories of France.|| The Gov- 
ernor of Canada soon afterwards wrote to the Governors of 
New York and Pennsylvania, informing them that as the 
English inland traders had encroached on the French territo- 

*Ain. Slate Papers, Public Lands, vol. i, p. 251. 

fHistory of the British Empire in North America — Marshall's Col. His. p. 279. 

J.\twater. 

IIMinutcs of Council of Pcunsylvunia. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 67 

ries and privileges by trading with the Indians under the pro- 
tection of France, he would cause such persons to be seized 
wherever they could be found, if they did not immediately 
desist from that illicit practice.* This threat, however, did 
not prevent the Ohio Company from prosecuting their designs. 
They employed an agent, Christopher Gist, " to explore the 
country, examine the quality of the lands, keep a journal of 
his adventures, draw as accurate a plan of the country as 
his observation would permit, and report the same to the 
Board." In the course of the years 1750, 1751, and 17.52, 
Mr. Gist and other British subjects explored the country south- 
wardly as far as the falls of the river Ohio, and northwardly 
several miles up the Miami and Scioto valleys. On the 13th 
of June, 1752, at Loggstown, about eighteen miles below the 
confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, Col. Fry 
and two other commissioners on the part of Virginia, obtained 
a promise from some Indians, that they would not "molest 
any settlements that might be made on the south-east side of 
the Ohio." In the course of the same year the agents of the 
Ohio Company established a trading house, among the Twigh- 
twees, on what is now called Loramie's creek, about forty- 
seven miles north of the present town of Dayton, in the state 
of Ohio-t 

While the English were thus prosecuting their designs, the 
French erected a fort at Presqu'Isle on Lake Erie, and soon 
afterwards advanced their posts to Venango, on the Allegheny 
at the mouth of French creek, about seventy miles northward 
of the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers. 

In 1753, the British ministry, foreseeing that the contro- 
versy concerning the extensive and fertile regions on the west- 
ern side of the Allegheny mountains could be settled only by 
the sword, earnestly urged the English colonies in America to 
form a union. In Virginia, preparations were made to raise a 
regiment for the protection of the frontiers; the General As- 
sembly of that colony passed an act for the encouragement of 

♦Smollett, ii, 125. 

tN. A. Rfiview, No. C. 



68 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

settlers on the waters of the Mississippi, and Major George 
Washington was sent with a letter from Governor Robert 
Dinwiddle to the commandant of the French forces about the 
Ohio, requiring him to withdraw from the dominions of Great 
Britain. This letter was delivered, at a fort on the western 
branch of French creek, to M. Le Guarduer de St. Pierre, 
That officer answered, in reply to this message, that " it was 
not his province to specify the evidence, and demonstrate the 
right of the king his master to the lands situated on the river 
Ohio; but he would transmit the letter to the Marquis du 
Quesne, and act according to the answer he should receive 
from that nobleman. In the mean time, he said, he did not 
think himself obliged to obey the summons of the English 
Governor; that he commanded the fort by virtue of an order 
from his general, to which he was determined to conform with 
all the precision and resolution of a good officer." * 

At this time the French had a number of posts and small 
settlements scattered over the great valley of the Mississippi. 
Kaskaskia, Cahokia, A^incennes, the post of Arkansas, Natchi- 
toches on Red River, and Natchez on the Mississippi, were 
rallying points of the trafficking population in this immense 
region, while New Orleans, Mobile, and Detroit, had become 
places of considerable commerce. From these various points 
the influence of the French was disseminated among the In- 
dians, and while the Six Nations and a branch of the Miamies 
were almost the only allies of the English, the French were 
connected by ties of interest and friendship with nearly all the 
tribes of the north and west.f 

In the spring of 1754, Major Washington received orders to 
proceed, with a detachment of two hundred men, to the point 
at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, 
and there to complete a fort which the Ohio Company had 
begun to build.J The attempt which was made to execute this 

♦Smollett. 

tFrost's U. S. 170. 

^Governor Dinwiddle issued a proclamation inviting the people to enlist in the service 
against the French, and, as an inducement, promised that the quantity of two hundred 
thousand acres of land should be laid out and divided among the adventurers, when the 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 69 

order was defeated by the French. A strong force, consisting 
of about one thousand men with eighteen pieces of cannon, 
under the command of M. Contrecoeur, passed down the Alle- 
gheny from Venango, early in the spring of 1754, and landed 
at the site which Washington had been ordered to fortify. 
After driving otf a small detachment of militia and some work- 
men who were engaged in the service of the Oliio Company, 
the French erected Fort Du Quesne. This fort was completed 
in April, 1754. 

During the time which elapsed between the years 1749 and 
1754, the French and their Indian allies captured a number of 
English traders on the borders of the Ohio, seized their peltries 
and other commodities to the value of twenty thousand pounds 
sterling,* and took possession of a block-house and truck-house 
\yhich the agents of the Ohio Company had erected at Loggs- 
town, on the Ohio. The Twightwees, in resentment of the 
injuries done to their allies, captured three French traders and 
sent them to Pennsylvania. The French then determined to 
punish these Indians for their adherence to the cause of the 
English; and in 1752, parties of warriors, acting under the 
direction of French officers and traders, attacked the Twigh- 
twees, killed fourteen Indians of that tribe, and tpok posses- 
sion of the English trading post on Loraniie's creek. In 
November, 1752, Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, sent a 
message to the Twightwees. In this message, which was 
written on a sheet of parchment about eight inches square, 
the Governor said, " I received Your Belt of Wampum and 
Scalp, by the Bearer Thomas Burney, and Your Speeches, 
with a Beaver Blanket, Pipe, and Belt of Wampum, by Capt. 
Trent and Mr. Montour. It has given me great Concern for 
the late Stroke that You have received from the Indians in 

service should be at an end. One hundred thousand acres of land was to be laid out at the 
confluence of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers; and the other one hundred thousand acres 
on the Ohio. On the appearance of this proclamation, Mr. Hamilton, the Governor of 
Pennsylvania, wrote to Governor Dinwiddic, reminding him that the proposed grants of 
lands, and the settlements which might be made thereon, should not be made use of to 
prejudice the right of the Province of Pennsylvania to the territories about the upper wa- 
ters of the river Ohio. 

♦Rider's His. xl. 71— Smollett ii, 152. 



70 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the Interest of the French, and of their barbarous Murdering 
of Your People." The message was signed by " Dinwiddie," 
and addressed to " Sachems and Warriors of the Twightwees, 
our Friends and Brethren.''^ 

When Major Washington, acting under the instructions of 
the Governor of Virginia, visited the head waters of the Ohio, 
in 17.53, he was informed that the French, at that time, had 
four small forts on the JMississippi between New Orleans and 
the Illinois. At New Orleans there were " thirty-five compa- 
nies of forty men each, with a pretty strong fort mounting 
eight carriage guns ;" and at the Illinois there were " several 
companies and a fort mounting six guns." There was, also, a 
"small pahsadoed fort," on the Ohio at the mouth of the 
Wabash. 

In 1754, a plan was proposed, by Dr. Benjamin Franklin, 
for establishing strong English colonies in the territory north- 
west of the Ohio, to prevent "the dreaded junction of the 
French settlements in Canada with those of Louisiana." Dr. 
Franklin proposed to plant one colony in the valley of the 
river Scioto; and to erect small fortifications at the following 
points, viz:— at Buffalo creek on the river Ohio; at the mouth 
of Tioga on the south side of Lake Erie ; at Hockhocking, and 
at, or near, t'ue mouth of the Wabash. He also proposed that 
"Sandusky, a French fort near Lake Erie, should be taken; 
and all the little French forts south and west of the lakes, quite 
to the Mississippi, be removed, or taken and garrisoned by the 
English." "Every fort," he said, " should have a small settle- 
ment around it ; as the fort would protect the settlers, and the 
settlers defend the fort and supply it with provisions."* 

In May, 1754, De Villiers, an officer at Fort Du Quesne, 
sent the Sieur de Jumonville, at the head of a small party, with 
a formal summons to Washington requiring him to withdraw 
with his forces from the territories of France. This party was 
attacked on the 28th of j\Iay by the troops under Washington, 
at a place called the Little Meadows. Jumonville was slain, 
and all his men either killed or captured. Soon after this 

*FrankHn''s Writings, edited by Sparks, iii, 70. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 71 

event, Washington was told that De Vilhers, at the head of a 
force consisting of nine hundred men, French and Indians, was 
marching against him : Having, at this time, only about three 
hundred men under his command, he retreated to the Great 
Meadows, and on the first of July, at that place, began to for- 
tify a rude post which he called Fort Necessity.* On the 3d 
day of July, 1754, the post was attacked by the forces under 
De ViUiers. After a gallant defence Washington agreed to 
capitulate on terms which were proposed by De Villiers. The 
conduct of the French officer was, on this occasion, honorable 
and magnanimous. It was stipulated in the articles of capitu- 
lation that Washington and his weak and reduced detachment 
should march from the fort with the honors of war, and carry 
with them their military stores and baggage. De Villiers, in 
giving an account of the action says, " On the 4th at the dawn 
of day I sent a detachment to take possession of the fort. The 
garrison defiled, and the number of their dead and wounded 
excited my pity, in spite of the resentment which I felt for 
the manner in which they had taken away the life of my 
brother."! 

When information reached England concerning the erection 
of Fort Du Quesne, and the defeat of the provincial forces 
under Washington, the British government gave orders for a 
vigorous preparation for war. The Enghsh colonies were 
directed to take up arms, and act with united exertions against 
the French in North America. 

In February, 1755, Major-General Edward Braddock arrived 
at Alexandria, in Virginia, with the forty-fourth and forty- 
eighth regiments of British Regulars, commanded by Sir Peter 
Halket and Colonel Dunbar. On his arrival in Virginia, Brad- 
dock immediately began to make preparations to carry a strong 
expedition against Fort Du Quesne ; and, on the 12th of June, 
having received a reinforcement of about one thousand provin- 
cial troops he began his march from Will's creek, (afterwards 

*The site of Fort Necessity at the Great Meadows is three or four hundred yards 
south of what is now called the National Road, four miles from the foot of Laurel Hill. — 
fButler. 

tAlludin;; to the death of Juraonville. 



73 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

called Fort Cumberland.) * with an army which amounted to 
somewhat more than two thousand effective men. General 
Braddock was a strict disciplinarian, and a man of courage; 
but he was " very haughty, positive, and difficult of access." f 
These latter qualities contributed in no small degree to bring 
about the disastrous and fatal defeat which he encountered on 
this expedition. When his army reached the Little Meadows^ 
about four days' march from Fort Du Quesne, he was inform- 
ed that the French at that fort expected a reinforcement of 
five hundred regular troops. On receiving this information 
Braddock left Colonel Dunbar, with about eight hundred men, 
to bring up the provisions, stores, and heavy baggage, as fast 
as the nature of the service would permit; and with the other 
twelve hundred men, together with ten pieces of cannon and 
the necessary ammunition, he " marched on with so much 
expedition that he seldom took time to reconnoitre the woods 
or the thickets he was to pass through, as if the nearer he 
approached the enemy the farther he was removed from dan- 
ger."! H® pressed forward with his forces, and on the 9th of 
July re-crossed the Monongahela, at a fording place about eight 
miles from Fort Du Quesne. Colonel Washington, Sir Peter 
Halket, and other officers had earnestly entreated General 
Braddock to proceed with caution, and to employ, as scouting 
parties, some friendly Indians who hsd joined him. But his 
conceit of his abiUties as a commander induced him to neglect 
these counsels; and the Indians, who would have been his 
safest guards against an ambush or surprise, " were so disgust- 
ed by the haughtiness of his behavior that most of them for- 
sook his banners," 

After crossing the Monongahela on the 9th, the army enter- 
ed upon " a level plain elevated but a few feet above the sur- 
face of the river, and extending northward about half a mile 
from its margin : then commenced a gradual ascent, at an angle 
of about three degrees, which terminated in hills of a consider- 
able height at no great distance beyond. The road to Fort 

*About one hundred and five miles soutli east from Pittsburgh. 

tSmolIett. 

i Smollett. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 73 

Du Quesne led over this plain, and up this ascent." Colonel 
Dunbar was at this time about forty miles behind Braddock. 
Leaving the English forces in these positions, it is necessary to 
turn, for a moment, to regard the operations of the French. 

Early in July, the commandant of Fort Du Quesne received 
from Indian and French scouts, information which led him to 
believe that the army under General Braddock amounted to 
three thousand men. M. Contrecoeur was preparing to evac- 
uate the fort, and retreat before a force which he supposed to 
be so greatly superior to that which was then under his own 
command: but M. de Beaujeu, a captain in the French service, 
" proposed to head a detachment of French and Indians, and 
meet the enemy on their march." The Indians were, in some 
degree, opposed to this design; but the entreaties of M. de 
Beaujeu finally induced them to accompany him. He was 
also joined by Captains M. Dumas, and Liguery. The 7th and 
8th days of July were passed in making preparations for the 
attack; and, on the 9tii, a force consisting of about two hun- 
dred and fifty French and six hundred Indians lay in ambush, 
seven miles from Fort Du Quesne, on the borders of the route 
which Braddock had determined to follow after crossing the 
Monongahela. 

The English forces, after crossing the river on the 9th, were 
formed in three divisions, which was the order of march. The 
division in advance, led by Colonel Gage, was composed of 
three hundred men, this was followed by a division of two 
hundred men, and next came the General with the columns of 
artillery, the main body of the army, and the baggage. After 
these divisions passed the plain which extended a few hundred 
yards from the river, their route lay over an ascending ground 
covered with trees and high grass. At the commencement of 
this ascent began a ravine, eight or ten feet deep, which, as it 
extended up the rising ground, "formed a figure nearly resem- 
bling that of a horse-shoe." The first and second divisions 
under Braddock had passed into this hollow, and the British 
columns in advance had reached the rising ground, when the 
French and Indians, from their places of concealment, poured 
10 



74 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

a destructive fire upon the front and the left flank of their 
enemy. The English columns in front returned a fire so heavy 
that the Indians, thinking it proceeded from artillery, began 
to waver. M. Beaujeu was at this moment mortally wounded, 
and the command devolved on M. Dumas. This officer soon 
removed the fears of the Indians, and, in their mode of warfare, 
they kept up an incessant fire upon the right and left flanks of 
the English, while the French force under Dumas maintained 
its position on the rising ground near the head of the ravine.* 
When the attack commenced, Braddock began to move rapidly 
forward to the support of the divisions in front; but before this 
movement could be effected, the columns in front gave way, 
and " fell back upon the artillery and the other columns of the 
army, causing extreme confusion, and striking the whole mass 
with such a panic that no order could be restored." t 

Notwithstanding the orders of the General to the contrary, 
the three companies of Virginia troops took positions behind 
trees and other coverts, and fought in the Indian manner. 
These troops "showed a good deal of bravery, and were nearly 
all killed ; out of three companies that were there, scarcely 
thirty men were left alive. Captain Peyrouny, and all his offi- 
cers down to a corporal, were killed. Captain Poison had 
nearly as hard a fate, for only one of his was left." J Many 
of the Indians, gaining confidence by the confusion of the Brit- 
ish regulars, rushed from their coverts and carried on the car- 
nage with their tomahawks. In the midst of the slaughter, 
Braddock himself, who was unwisely brave, struggled in vain 
to form his men in platoons and columns. In the meantime 
nearly all his officers were killed or wounded. The whole 
number of officers in the engagement was eighty-six, of whom 
twenty-six were killed and thirty-seven wounded. Sir Peter 
Halket fell by the first fire, at the head of his division. Col. 

*The distance from the head of the ravine to the ford where the troops crossed the 
Monongahela, was about one hundred and eighty .eight perches. 

tin a letter to Governor Dinwiddie, Washington wrote as follows : " It is conjectu- 
red, 1 believe with much truth, that two-thirds of both killed and wounded, received their 
shot from our own cowardly regulars, who gathered themselves into a body contrary to 
orders ten or twelve deep, would then level, fire, and shoot down the men before them." 

JWashington. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 75 

Washington, who was one of the aids of General Braddock, 
escaped without a wound, though four bullets passed through 
his coat, and two horses were shot under him.* Braddock 
had three horses shot under him ; but his obstinacy seemed to 
increase with the danger,f and he continued his efforts to main- 
tain the conflict, until at last he received a mortal wound from 
a musket ball which passed through his right arm and lungs. 
He was immediately carried from the field, and the remnant 
of the army then retreated in a very disorderly manner across 
the Monongahela. The Indians, being attracted by the plun- 
der which they found on the field, did not pursue the retreat- 
ing forces, who continued their flight until they arrived at the 
camp of Colonel Dunbar, where the unfortunate Braddock 
died, on the 13th of July. All the stores except those neces- 
sary for immediate use were then destroyed; the provincial 
troops returned to their homes ; and the British regulars were 
marched to Philadelphia, whei'e they went into quarters. In 
this conflict the loss of English private soldiers, killed and 
wounded, amounted to seven hundred and fourteen. Of this 
number about one half were killed. The artillery, ammunition 
and baggage of the defeated army, together with a number of 
letters of instruction to General Braddock, fell into the hands 
of the French. The loss on the side of the French was, in the 
words of an imperfect return, "three officers killed, and four 
wounded; about thirty soldiers and Indians killed, and as 
many wounded." 

France and Great Britain, soon after the defeat of General 
Braddock, began to send strong reinforcements from Europe 
to their respective colonies in America; but during a period 
of three years succeeding that defeat, the French remained 
undisturbed in possession of Fort Du Quesne. Meanwhile the 
settlements on the western frontiers of Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land, and Virginia, were destructively assailed by the Indians, 
and were generally broken up. By an act, of August, 1755, 
the General Assembly of "Virginia offered a reward of ten 

♦Letter from Washington to his mother, dated July 18, 1755. 
fSmollett. 



76 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

pounds sterling for every scalp of a hostile Indian above twelve 
years of age.* 

In the autumn of the year 175S, the French at Fort Du 
Quesne, having been informed of the approach of seven thou- 
sand English troops under the command of General Forbes,t 
dismantled the fort in the latter part of November, and, "to 
the number of about five hundred men,"J retreated to different 
French posts. A considerable number went to Venango, some 
continued their retreat to Presq'Isle, and others moved in boats,_ 
down the river Ohio. The fortifications were hastily repaired 
by the English, and garrisoned by four hundred and fifty men, 
chiefly provincial troops from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and 
Maryland, under the command of Col. Mercer.|| The name 
of the post was then changed to Fort Pitt. 

The retreat of the French from Fort Du Quesne gave the 
English possession of the country on the borders of the Ohio, 
and at the same time produced an important change in the 
disposition of the Indian tribes of that region. It had on many 
occasions been the practice of war parties to assemble at Fort 
Du Quesne, for the purpose of making their destructive attacks 
on the frontiers of the English colonies ; but, finding the cur- 
rent of success to be running against the French, the Indians 
during the years 1760, 1761, and 1762, seemed to be willing 
to reconcile themselves to their powerful and persevering ene- 
mies; and before the close of the year 1764, nearly all the 
tribes that occupied the country between the Ohio and the 
northern lakes concluded treaties of peace and friendship with 
the English. 

In the month of September, 1759, Quebec, the strong hold 

*Hening's Stat, vi, 551. 

fBefore the army under General Forbes was put in motion, Major Grant was detached 
from the advanced post at Lyal-Henning, with about eight hundred men to reconnoitre Fort 
Du Quesne and the adjacent country. He imprudently invited an attack from the French 
and their Indian allies; and the result was that upwards of three hundred of the English 
detachment were killed and wounded, and Major Grant himself was made a prisoner. The 
remnant of the detachment, which was, probably, saved by the bravery and good conduct 
of Captain Bullitt, retreated to the main army. — [Vide Marshall's Col. His. 322. 

JWashington's writings, ii, 320. 

IIGordon's His. Pennsylvania, 368, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 77 

of the French in Canada, was taken by the EngUsh forces 
under Generals Wolfe, Monckton, and Townshend. The 
French forces were commanded by the Marquis de Montcalm. 
While the battle raged upon the heights of Abraham, Wolfe 
received a ball in his wrist: he hastily wrapped his handker- 
chief around the wound, and continued to encourage his 
troops. A moment afterwards a shot entered his groin. This 
wound he also concealed, and was advancing at the head of 
his grenadiers with their bayonets fixed, when a third bullet 
pierced his breast. Finding himself mortally wounded, and 
unable to stand, he leaned upon the shoulder of a lieutenant 
who sat down for that purpose. This officer, seeing the French 
give way, exclaimed " they fly! — they fly!" "Who fly?" 
cried the dying General, in a tone of great anxiety. When 
the lieutenant replied, " the French," Wolfe said, " then I de- 
part content." * The brave Montcalm was mortally wounded 
in the battle, and expired on the same day. When told that 
he could survive only a few hours, he calmly replied, " So 
much the better: I shall not then live to see the surrender of 
Quebec." 

In this battle the colossal French power in North America 
received a fatal stroke. The joy of the English colonists was 
great; and when the news of the surrender of Quebec reached 
England a day of solemn Thanksgiving was appointed by proc- 
lamation throughout the dominions of Great Britain.f In the 
course of the next year, 1760, Montreal, Detroit, Michilimack- 
inac, and all other posts within the government of Canada,' 
were surrendered by the Marquis de Vaudreuil to the English 
commander-in-chief. General Aml^erst, on condition that the 
French inhabitants should, during the war, be "protected in 
the free exercise of their religion, and the full enjoyment of 
their civil rights, leaving their future destinies to be decided 
by the treaty of peace." 

A definitive treaty of peace between France and England, 
was concluded at Paris, on the 10th of February, 1763. The 

♦Belsham. — Marshall. — Smollett. 
tSmollett. 



78 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

preliminary articles of the treaty had been adjusted and signed 
on the 3d of November, 1762. France by this treaty ceded 
to Great Britain not only Nova Scotia, Canada, and all their 
dependencies, but it v^^as agreed, in order to establish peace on 
solid and durable foundations, and to remove forever all sub- 
jects of dispute with regard to the British and French territo- 
ries on the continent of North America, that the confines 
between the dominions of his Britannic majesty and those of 
France, on this continent, should be fixed irrevocably " by a 
line drawn along the middle of the river Mississippi from its 
source to the river Ibberville, and from thence by a line drawn 
along the middle of this river, and the lakes Maurepas and 
Pontchartrain, to the sea;" and for this purpose France ceded 
in full right and guarantied to Great Britain, the river and port 
of Mobile, and every thing she possessed on the left side of the 
river Mississippi, except the town of New Orleans and the 
island on which it is situated. The navigation of the Missis- 
sippi was to be open and free in its whole length and breadth, 
from its source to the Gulf of Mexico, and particularly that 
part which is between the island of New Orleans and the right 
bank of the river, as well as the passage in and out of its mouth. 
The vessels of the subjects of the high contracting parties were 
not to be stopped, visited, nor subjected to the payment of any 
duty whatsoever.* 

In the month of November, 1762, France, by a secret con- 
vention, ceded all that part of Louisiana which lay westward 
of the river Mississippi to Spain. The province was to be de- 
livered whenever Spain should be ready to receive it: but this 
was not officially announced to the inhabitants of Louisiana, 
until the 21st of April, 1764; nor did Spain receive possession 
until the 17th of August, 1769,t 

♦American State Papers, vol. x, 135, 
fRayn. ix, 222, 235. 



CHAPTER IV. 

In the fall of the year 1760, after Canada and its dependen- 
cies had been surrendered to the English, Major Robert Rogers 
at the head of a considerable force, was despatched from Mon- 
treal, by General Amherst, to take possession of Detroit and 
Michilimackinac ; which posts, according to the conditions of 
the capitulation, were to be given up by the French command- 
ants, and to be garrisoned by detachments of British soldiers. 
The forces under the command of Major Rogers were the first 
English troops that ever penetrated into that region. On his 
route from Montreal to the western part of Lake Erie, Major 
Rogers was received in a friendly manner by different tribes 
of Indians, who appeared to be gratified on hearing that the 
French had surrendered the country : but on drawing near to 
Detroit the English forces received a message from Pontiac, 
an Ottawa* chief of distinction, requesting them to stop, until 
he should arrive at their camp, and " see them with his own 
eyes." The messengers were also directed to represent their 
chief as the master and ruler of the country which the English 
had then entered. The troops were drawn up, and Pontiac 
soon arrived at their encampment. After the first salutation, 
he sternly demanded of Rogers to tell him the business on 
which the English had come, and how they had dared to ven- 
ture on his territories without his permission. Major Rogers, 
who was a prudent officer, replied that he had no design 
against the Indians; and that his only object was the removal 
of the French, who had been the means of preventing mutual 

♦ Captain Jonathan Carver, who visited Detroit in 1766, says, perhaps erroneously, 
that Pontiac " was an enterprising chief, or head warrior of the Miamies." — [Carver's 
Travels, 96. 



80 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

friendship and commerce between the Indian tribes and the 
EngUsh. He then ofiered a present of several belts of wam- 
pum. Pontiac received them ; and gave Major Rogers a small 
string of wampum, saying " I shall stand, till morning, in the 
path you are walking," — meaning by this expression, that the 
English detachment must not advance any farther without his 
permission. Before this conference was closed, he told Major 
Rogers that his warriors should bring some food to the Enghsh 
camp, if the soldiers were in want of it. To this the Major 
replied, that whatever provisions might be brought in should 
be well paid for. The troops were soon afterwards supplied 
with several bags of parched corn, and other necessaries. 

On the next morning Pontiac appeared in the English camp. 
He smoked the pipe of peace with Major Rogers, and declared 
that he thereby made peace with the British officer and his 
troops. He then told them that they should pass safely 
through his territories; and that his warriors should protect 
them from all hostile tribes. These were no idle promises. 
Pontiac accompanied Major Rogers to Detroit. He sent about 
one hundred Indian warriors to the assistance of a corps of 
troops who were driving a large number of cattle from Fort 
Pitt to Detroit for the use of the English forces. He also 
despatched messengers to several Indian towns, avowedly to 
inform the Indians that the English had his consent to march 
through the country, and take possession of the posts which 
had been occupied by the French. 

If the favors which Pontiac at first dispensed to the English 
were bestowed with sentiments of friendship, the disposition 
of the chief was soon changed. The feeUngs of implacable 
hostiUty with which he began to regard the English in 1'762, 
may be traced, first, to the influence of the French, who had 
been, for many years, the friends and allies of his tribe ; * and 

*Peace had not then been definitely concluded between France and England ; and 
while some of the French in the west aided and directed the bold genius of Pontiac, others 
remained in a state of neutrality. While addressing a grand council of Indians assem- 
bled at the river Aux Ecorces, Pontiac told them that the Great Spirit had appeared to a 
Delaware Indian, and spoke to hira thus : " Why do you suffer these dogs in red clothing 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 81 

secondly, to the sullen and domineering temper of the English 
themselves. * 

In the com'se of the year 1762, while the Indians seemed 
to be satisfied with the subjugation of the French, and the 
British traders were beginning to carry on a traffic among 
the tribes that dwelt between the lakes and the Ohio, Pontiac 
and his partizans were secretly organizing a powerful confed- 
eracy, by means of which it was their intention to crush, at a 
single blow, the English power in the west. This great scheme 
was skilfully projected and cautiously matured. Among the 
different tribes reports were circulated of a design formed by 
the English for the entire extirpation of the Indians.f Early 
in the spring of 1763 the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattamies, 
Sacs, Foxes, Menominies, Miamies, [Twightwees,] Shawanees, 
Wyandots, and branches of some other tribes, were ready to 
make a simultaneous attack on all the British forts and trading 
posts in the country northwest of the Allegheny mountains* 
The attack was made in the month of May, 1763; and the 
Indians, without much opposition, took possession of the posts 
of Michilimackinac, Green Bay, St. Joseph, Ouiatenon, Miamis, 
Sandusky, Presq'Isle, Lebo^uf, and Venango. With the excep- 
tion of Michilimackinac, the fortifications at these places were 
then slight, being trading posts, and not properly military es- 
tablishments. A small number of English traders about these 
posts were killed; some escaped, and others were taken pris- 
oners, and remained in captivity until they were ransomed, or 
released on the return of peace. The British garrisons at 
Detroit and Fort Pitt, successfully resisted the attacks of the 
enemy; but the confederacy of hostile Indians made amends 
for these failures by spreading death and devastation along 

[the English] to enter your country and take the land I gave you? Drive them from it, 
and then, when you are in distress, I will lielp you." Pontiac also exhibited to the Indians 
a war belt, which he said the French king had sent over from France, ordering them to 
drive out the British and make way for the return of the French. — [Cass. — Lanraan. — 
Thatcher. 

*Some of the Ottawa Indians had been disgraced by blows received from the English. 
—[Cass. 

fDodsley's An. Reg. for 1763, vi, 23. 

u 



82 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the western frontiers of the provinces of New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, and Virginia.* 

The fort at Michilimackinac, distant three hundred and twen- 
ty miles from Detroit, stood on the south side of the strait be- 
tween the lakes Huron and Michigan. There was connected 
with the fort an area of two acres. This area was enclosed 
with cedar-wood pickets, extending on one side so near to the 
edge of the water that a western wind sometimes drove the 
waves against the foot of the stockade. There were within 
the limits of the enclosure about thirty small houses, inhabited 
by French families. The only ordnance on the bastions of the 
fort were two small brass pieces. The garrison consisted of 
ninety men, besides two subalterns, and Major Etherington,t 
the commandant. The task of capturing this fort had been 
allotted to the Sacs and the Chippewas, and the warriors of 
these tribes effected their object by means of a very ingenious 
stratagem. Nearly four hundred Indian warriors were en- 
camped at Michilimackinac; and on the 4th of June, which 
was the birth-day of George III., these Indians began to amuse 

*" There is most melancholy News here. The Indians have broken out in divers 
Places, and have murdered Col. C. and his Family. An Indian has brought a War belt to 
Tusquerora, who says that Detroit was invested, and St. Dusky cut off. All Levy's goods 
are stopped at Tusquerora by the Indians; and last Night eight or ten men were killed 
at Beaver Creek. We hear of scalping every Hour. Messrs. Cray and Allison's Horses, 
twenty-five, loaded with Skins, are all taken." — [Letter dated 'Fort Pitt, May 31,' 1763.] 

"Last night I reached this place. I have been at Fort Cumberland several days, but the 
Indians having killed nine people there, made me think it prudent to remove from those 
parts, from which I suppose near five hundred families have runaway within thfs week. 
It was a most melancholy sight to sec such numbers of poor people, who had abandoned 
their settlement in such consternation and hurry, that they had scarcely any thing with 
them but their children." — [Letter dated 'Winchester, Virginia, June 22d,' 1763.] 

"I returned home last night. * * There has been a good deal said in the papers, but 
not more than is strictly true. Shippensburgh and Carlisle are now become our frontiers, 
none living at their plantations but such as have their houses stockaded. Upwards of two 
hundred women and children are now living in Fort Loudoun, a spot not more than one 
hundred feet square. I saw a letter from Col. S, late of the Virginia Regiment to Col. A. 
wherein lie mentions that Great-Brier and Jackson's River are depopulated — upwards of 
three hundred persons killed or taken prisoners; that for one hundred miles in breadth and 
three hundred in length, notone family is to be found in their plantations; by which means 
there are near twenty thousand people left destitute of their habitations." — [Letter dated 
'Philadelphia, July 27th,' 1763 — Vide Thatcher's Indian Biog. ii, 113. 

fSome time before the attack was made on the fort, this officer was informed of the 
hostility of the Indians; but he would not believe the report. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 83 

themselves by playing at a favorite game of ball, which they 
called " baggatiway." This game is played with a bat and ball, 
the bat being about four feet long, curved, and terminating in 
a sort of racket. Two posts are placed in the ground at the 
distance of half a mile or more from each other. The Indians 
are then divided into two parties, and each party has its post. 
On the ground, midway between the two posts, is placed the 
ball ; and the players then endeavor to knock or throw it from 
the direction of their own post, and towards the post of their 
adversaries. The Indians played for some time with great 
animation, near the pickets of the fort, and part of the garrison 
went out to observe the progress of the game. In the ardor of 
the contest, the ball was sometimes, apparently by accident, 
thrown over the stockade. At such moments it was followed 
by numbers of both parties, who ran into and out of the fort 
with freedom. This artifice was repeated several times; when, 
finally, as the ball was thrown over the pickets, the Indians 
rushed into the enclosure and took possession of the fort. A 
furious attack was then made on the English soldiers, seventy 
of whom were killed and scalped.* The remainder, being 
about twenty men, were saved as prisoners. 

Early in the month of May, Pontiac appeared before Detroit 
at the head of three or four hundred warriors. These Indians, 
who were accompanied by their women and children, encamp- 
ed near the fort, without exciting at first, any suspicion in the 
mind of Major Gladwyn, the commandant. The post was 
then garrisoned by one hundred and thirty men, including 
officers.f Three rows of pickets, enclosing about an acre and 
a half, surrounded the fort, in the form of a square. There 
were block-houses at the corners, and over the gates. With a 
few exceptions the houses of the French inhabitants were situ- 
ated within the enclosure ; and an open space which was called 

iftLanman's His. of Micliigan, 143. — Captain Carver says "tlie Indians had tlie hu- 
manity to spare the lives of the greatest part of the garrison and traders; but they made 
Ihem all prisoners, and carried them off. However, some time after they took them to 
Montreal, where they were redeemed at a good price. "^[Carver's Travels, 13. 

fin addition to this number there were several English fur traders at Detroit. The 
value of the goods and commodities stored at this place, when Pontiac commenced his at- 
tack, has been estimated at five hundred thousand pounds sterling. 



84 HISTORICAL NOTES, 

by the French Le chemin du Ronde, intervened between the 
houses and the pickets. The fortifications did not extend to 
the river Detroit, but a gate opened in the direction of that 
stream, in which, near the fort, the Beaver, an armed EngUsh 
schooner, was then moored. The ordnance of the fort con- 
sisted of two six-pounders, a few small brass pieces, and three 
mortars. 

Such was the condition of affairs about Detroit, on the 8th 
of May, 1763, when Pontiac proposed to hold a council with 
Major Gladwyn, saying to that officer that " the Indians desir- 
ed to take their new father, the king of England, by the hand." 
To th'fs proposal Major Gladwyn gave his assent, and it was 
agreed between the parties that the council should be held in 
the fort on the next day. In making this apparently friendly 
overture it was the object of Pontiac to gain admittance into 
the fort, at the head of a number of warriors who were armed 
with rifles which had been made so short that they could be 
concealed under the blankets of those who carried them. At a 
particular signal, which was to be given by the chief, these 
Indians were to massacre all the officers in the fort, and then 
open the gates to admit the other Indians, who were to rush in 
and complete the destruction of the garrison. Major Gladwyn 
obtained information of this schjeme before an opportunity 
occurred to execute it. "Carver states — and his account is 
substantially confirmed by tradition, as well as by other au- 
thorities * — that an Indian woman betrayed the secret. She 
had been employed by the commandant to make him a pair of 
moccasins out of elk-skin, and having completed them, she 
brought them into the fort on the evening of the day when 
Pontiac made his appearance, and his application for a coun- 
cil. The Major was pleased with them, directed her to convert 
the residue of the skin into articles of the same description, 
and having made her a generous payment, dismissed her. She 
went to the outer door, but there stopped, and for some time 

*Vide Thatcher's Indian Biog. ii, 93. — Lanman's His. Michigan, 122 Drake, bopk 

V. c. iii, p. S3 — McKenney's "Tour to the Lakes," 130, — Discourse of Governor Cass - 

Carver's Travels, 97. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 85 

loitered about, as if her errand was still unperformed. A ser- 
vant asked her what she wanted, but she made no answer. 
The Major himself observed her, and ordered her to be called 
in, when, after some hesitation, she replied to his enquiries, 
that as he had always treated her kindly, she did not like to 
take away the elk-skin, which he valued so highly ; she could 
never bring it back. The commandant's curiosity was, of 
course, excited, until the woman at length disclosed every 
thing which had come to her knowledge. Her information 
was not received with implicit credulity, but the Major 
thought it prudent to employ the night in taking active meas- 
ures for defence. His arms and ammunition were examined 
and arranged ; and the traders and their dependents, as well 
as the garrison were directed to be ready for instant service. 
A guard kept watch on the ramparts during the night, it being 
apprehended that the Indians might anticipate the preparations 
now known to have been made for the next day. Nothing, 
however, was heard after dark, except the sound of singing 
and dancing in the Indian camp, which they always indulge 
in upon the eve of any great enterprise. In the morning, 
Pontiac and a party of his warriors repaired to the fort. They 
were admitted without hesitation, and were conducted to the 
council-house, or the place assigned for the meeting, where 
Major Gladwyn and his officers were prepared to receive them; 
They perceived at the gate, and as they passed through the 
streets, an unusual activity and movement among the troops. 
The garrison was under arms, the guards were doubled and 
the officers were armed with swords and pistols, Pontiac 
enquired of the British commander what was the cause of this 
unusual appearance. He was answered, that it was proper to 
keep the young men to their duty, lest they should become idle 
and ignorant. The business of the council then commenced, 
and Pontiac proceeded to address Major Gladwyn. His speech 
was bold and menacing, and his manner and gesticulations 
vehement, and they became still more so as he approached the 
critical moment. When he was upon the point of making the 
preconcerted signal, the drums at the door of the council-house 



86 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

suddenly rolled the charge, the guards levelled their pieces, 
and the British officers drew their swords from their scabbards. 
Pontiac was a brave man; but this unexpected and decisive 
proof that his plot was discovered, disconcerted him, and he 
failed to give his party the signal of attack. Major Gladwyn 
immediately approached the chief, and drawing aside his blan- 
ket, discovered the shortened rifle; and then, after stating his 
knowledge of tiie plan, and reproaching him for his treachery, 
ordered him from the fort. The Indians immediately retired, 
and as soon as they had passed the gate they gave a yell, and 
fired upon the garrison. They then proceeded to the commons 
where was living an aged English woman, with her two sons. 
These they murdered, and afterwards repaired to Hog Island, 
where a discharged sergeant resided with his family, who were 
all but one instantly massacred." 

During three or four days immediately succeeding these 
events, the Indians made several attempts to carry the fort by 
storm. At one time, a cart, filled with combustible materials 
set on fire, was wheeled up against the pickets; at another 
time the besiegers were about to set fire to the chapel, by 
shooting blazing arrows upon its roof; but the warriors of the 
wilderness gave up this intention, when they were told by a 
Jesuit missionary that such an act would bring down upon 
them the condemnation of the Great Spirit. The assailants 
made several attempts to cut away the pickets, so as to make 
a breach. On one occasion, when such an attempt was made, 
Major Gladwyn ordered his men to assist the Indians in cut- 
ting away some of the pickets. This was done ; and when an 
opening was made, the Indians began to rush into it; but they 
were suddenly and destructively repulsed by the discharge of a 
brass four-pounder which had been brought to bear upon the 
breach. After this repulse, the assailants did not at any time 
make a close assault upon the fort:* but they maintained a 

*"We have been besieged here two Months, by Six Hundred Indians. We have been 
on the Watch Night and Day, from the Commanding Officer to the lowest Soldier, from the 
8th of May, and have not had our Cloatlis off, nor slept all Night since it began ; and shall 
continue so till we have a Reinforcement up. We then hope soon to give a good Account 
of the Savages. Their Camp lies about a Mile and a half from the Fort ; and that's the 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 87 

pretty close siege throughout the months of May, June, July, 
and August, durmg a part of which time the English garrison 
were compelled to subsist on half rations. About the 3Ist of 
May, Lieutenant Cuyler, who had been despatched from Ni- 
agara, arrived at Point Pelee with ninety-seven men, manning 
twenty small boats laden with provisions and stores for the 
garrison at Detroit. A few hours after the arrival of the Eng- 
lish party at this place, they were surprised and defeated by a 
band of Pontiac's warriors, who took possession of all the 
boats, except one, in which an officer and thirty men escaped. 
Of the remainder of the party some w^ere killed, and others 
captured. The prisoners were then compelled to navigate the 
boats, in each of which the Indians placed a guard ; and thus 
the vessels, keeping close to the Canadian shore, moved up the 
Detroit river, attended by a considerable number of warriors, 
who marched along the banks. When the foremost boat arri- 
ved at a point nearly opposite to Detroit, four prisoners who 
were manning the boat determined to effect their escape or to 
perish in the attempt. They suddenly changed the course of 
the boat, and began to force her across the stream and towards 
the fort. The Indian guards, who attempted to stop them, 
after a short struggle leaped overboard, dragging with them 
one of the prisoners. TJie three who remained in the boat 
were fired on by the Indians, and one of the fugitives was 
wounded; but an armed vessel lying before Detroit opened a 
fire upon the Indians, and thus covered the retreat of the Eng- 
lish boatmen until they reached the vessel. The Indians then 
landed the boats, and took the rest of the prisoners to Hog- 
Island, where nearly all of them were put to death. 

In the early part of June, a strong detachment of Indians 
left the siege, and proceeded to Fighting Island, for the pur- 
pose of intercepting a vessel laden with arms and provisions 
for the relief of the garrison at Detroit. The Indians, in their 
canoes, annoyed the English vessel very much, until the latter 

nearest they choose to come now. For the first two or three Days we were attacked by 
three or four Hundred of them ; hut we gave them so warm a Reception that they don't 
care for coming to see us, tlio' tlicy now and tlien get behind a House or Garden and fire at 
us about threeor four Hundred yards' distance."— [Letter from Detroit, dated July C, 1763. 



88 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

reached the point of the island, where, on account of the wind 
faihng, she was compelled to anchor. To deceive the Indians 
in regard to the strength of his crew, the captain had conceal- 
ed his men in the hold. Soon after dark the Indians embarked 
in their canoes and proceeded to board the vessel. " The men 
were silently ordered up and took their stations at the guns. 
The Indians were suffered to approach close to the vessel when 
the captain, by a stroke of a hammer on the mast, gave the 
signal for action. An immediate discharge took place, and 
the Indians precipitately fled, with many killed and wounded. 
The next morning the vessel dropped down to the mouth of 
the river, where she remained six days waiting for a wind. 
On the thirteenth she succeeded in ascending the river, and 
reaching the fort in safety." * 

Soon after these events occurred, Pontiac made some unsuc- 
cessful attempts to destroy the English vessels moored before 
Detroit. Large rafts constructed of combustible materials were 
towed to a certain position in the river, and there set on fire, 
with the expectation that the current would carry these burn- 
ing masses into contact with the vessels. 

A fleet of gun-boats, strongly armed, and having on board 
three hundred English regular troops under the command of 
Captain Dalyell, arrived at Detroit, late in the month of July. 
Soon after the arrival of this reinforcement, a battle was fought 
between the English and the Indians, at a place which, from 
the time of the engagement to the present day, has been called 
" Bloody Bridge." The English commander, in his official re- 
turns, gave the following minute account of this affair. " On 
the evening of the 30th July, Captain Dalyell, aid-de-camp to 
General Amherst, being arrived here with the detachment sent 
under his command, and being fully persuaded that Pontiac, 
the Indian chief, with his tribes, would soon abandon his de- 
sign, and retire, insisted with the commandant that they might 
easily be surprised in their camp, totally routed and driven out 
of the settlement; and it was thereupon determined that Cap- 
tain Dalyell should march out with two hundred and forty- 



*Thatclier, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 89 

seven men. Accordingly we marched about half an hour after 
two in the morning, two deep, along the great road by the 
river side, two boats up the river along shore, with a patteraro 
in each, with orders to keep up with the line of march, cover 
our retreat, and take off* our killed and Avounded ; Lieutenant 
Bean, of the Q.ueeTi's Independents, being ordered, with a rear 
guard, to convey the dead and wounded to the boats. About 
a mile and a half from the fort, we had orders to form into 
platoons, and, if attacked in front, to fire by street-firings. 
We then advanced, and, in about a mile farther, our advanced 
guard, commanded by Lieutenant Brown, of the 55th regiment, 
had been fired upon so close to the enemy's breastworks and 
cover, that the fire, being very heavy, not only killed and 
wounded some of his party, but reached the main body, which 
put the whole into a little confusion ; but they soon recovered 
their order, and gave the enemy, or rather their works, it being 
very dark, a discharge or two from the front, commanded by 
Captain Gray. At the same time, the rear, commanded by 
Captain Grant, were fired upon from a house, and some fen- 
ces about twenty yards on his left ; on which he ordered his 
own and Captain Hojjkins's companies to face to the left and 
give a full fire that way. After which, it appearing that the 
enemy gave way every where. Captain Dalycll sent orders to 
Captain Grant, to take possession of the above-said houses and 
fences; which he immediately did; and found in one of the 
said houses two men, who told him the enemy had been there 
long, and were well apprised of our design. Captain Grant 
then asked them the numbers ; they said above three hundred ; 
and that they intended, as soon as they had attacked us in the 
front, to get between us and the fort; which Captain Grant 
told Captain Dalyell, who came to him when the firing was 
over. And in about an hour after, he came to him again, and 
told Captain Grant he was to retire, and ordered him to march 
in the front, and post himself in an orchard. He then marched, 
and about half a mile farther on his retreat, he had some shots 
fired on his flank; but got possession of the orchard, which was 
well fenced; and just as he got there, he heard a warm firing 
12 



90 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

in the rear, having at the same time, a firing on his own post, 
from the fences and cornfields behind it. Lieutenant McDougal 
who acted as adjutant to the detachment, came up to him, 
(Captain Grant,) and told him, that Captain Dalyell was killed, 
and Captain Gray very much wounded, in making a push on 
the enemy, and forcing them out of a strong breastwork of 
cordwood, and an entrenchment which they had taken pos- 
session of; and that the command then devolved upon him. 
Lieutenant Bean immediately came up, and told him, that 
Captain Rogers had desired him to tell Captain Grant, that he 
had taken possession of a house, and that he had better retire 
with what numbers he had, as he (Captain Rogers) could not 
get off" without the boats to cover him, he being hard pushed 
by the enemy from the enclosures behind him, some of which 
scoured the road through which he must retire. Captain Grant 
then sent Ensign Pauli, with twenty men, back to attack a 
part of the enemy which annoyed his own post a little, and 
galled those that were joining him, from the place where Cap 
tain Dalyell was killed, and Captain Gray, Lieutenants Broivn 
and Luke, were wounded; which Ensign Pauli did, and killed 
some of the enemy in their flight. Captain Grant, at the same 
time, detached all the men he could get, and took possession of 
the enclosures, barns, fences, &c. leading from his own post to 
the fort, which posts he reinforced with the officers and men, 
as they came up. Thinking the retreat then secured, he sent 
back to Captain Rogers, desiring he would come oflT; that the 
retreat was quite secured, and the different parties ordered to 
cover one another successively, until the whole had joined; 
but Captain Rogers not finding it right to risk the loss of more 
men, he chose to wait for the armed boats, one of which ap- 
peared soon, commanded by Lieutenant Brehm, whom Captain 
Grant had directed to go and cover Captain Rogers^s retreat, 
who was in the next house. Lieutenant Brehm accordingly 
went and fired several shots at the enemy. Lieutenant Abbott, 
with the other boat, wanting ammunition, went down with 
Captain Gray. Lieutenant Broivn and some wounded men 
returned also, which Captain Grant supposes the enemy seeing 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 91 

did not wait her arrival, but retired on Lieutenant Brehni's 
firing, and gave Captain Rogers, witii the rear, an opportunity 
to come off; so that the whole from the different posts joined 
without any confusion, and marched to the fort in good order, 
covered by the armed boats on the water side, and by our own 
parties on the country side, in view of the enemy, who had all 
joined, and were much stronger than at the beginning of the 
affair, as was afterwards told us by some prisoners that made 
their escape ; many having joined them from the other side of 
the river and other places. The whole arrived at the fort 
about eight o'clock, commanded by Captain Grant, whose able 
and skilful retreat is highly commended. 

"Return of killed and wounded of the several detachments 
near the Detroit, July 31, 1763. — Of the 55th Regiment: one 
sergeant, thirteen rank and file, killed ; one captain, two lieu- 
tenants, one drummer, twenty-eight rank and file, wounded. 
Of the Royal Americans : one rank and file killed ; one rank 
and file wounded. — Of the SOth Regiment: two rank and file 
killed ; three rank and file wounded. — Of the Queen's Rangers: 
two rank and file killed; one rank and file wounded. 

"Names of the officers: — 55th Regiment: Captain Gray, 
Lieutenant Luke, and Lieutenant Brown, wounded. 

"N. B. Captain Dalyell, killed, not included in the above."* 

Soon after this engagement, parties of the Pottawattamie 
and Huron tribes gave up their prisoners, and expressed a 
desire for peace. Other bands of Indians who had been enga- 
ged in the siege, retired disheartened to their villages and 
hunting grounds ; but the uncompromising hostility of Pontiac 
kept the English garrison at Detroit in a state of suspense until 
the spring of 1764. 

During the months of June and July, 1763, Fort Pitt was 
closely besieged by different war parties, consisting, generally, 
of Shawanees and Delaware warriors. But Captain Ewyerf 
and the garrison defended themselves, until they were rein- 
forced, early in August, by the arrival of several companies of 

*Drake, B. V. C. iii, p. 55. 

tGordon'3 His. Pa. 399 "Ecuyer."— Dodslcy's An. Register, for 1763. 



92 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

regular troops under the command of Colonel Bouquet. This 
force, on its march from Carlisle to Fort Pitt, was attacked by 
a large number of Indians, near a stream called Bushy Run. 
The assailants were defeated with a loss of about sixty war- 
riors killed. The loss of the English was about fifty killed, and 
sixty wounded. On the fourth day succeeding this battle, the 
British troops reached Fort Pitt; and the hostile Indians im- 
mediately retreated from the neighborhood of that post : but, 
throughout the succeeding autumn and winter, they continued 
in detached parties, to wage war against the settlers on the 
western frontiers of the English colonies. Roused to a high 
degree of excitement by this destructive warfare, the British 
authorities determined to adopt strong measures for the pun- 
ishment and subjugation of the hostile tribes. In 1764, General 
Bradstreet, at the head of three thousand men, was ordered to 
proceed against the Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippewas, and other 
Indian nations living near the borders of the lakes Erie, Huron, 
and Michigan. About the same time, another strong force, 
under the command of Colonel Bouquet, was ordered to march 
against the Delawares, Shawanees, and other hostile tribes 
who inhabited the country lying between the lakes and the 
river. In addition to these measures, the Governor of Penn- 
sylvania, by a proclamation of the 7th of July, 1764,* oflTered 
bounties for the scalps or the capture of hostile Indians. The 
bounties were — 

For every male above ten years, captured, - - - $150 00 
For every male above ten years, scalped, being kiUed, 134 00 
For every female or male under ten years, captured, 130 00 
For every female above ten years, scalped, being killed, 50 00 
While General Bradstreet was on his way from Niagara to 
Detroit, he was met by delegates who bore overtures of peace 
from many of the northwestern tribes ; and soon after his arri- 
val at Detroit, which post he reached without opposition, all 
the tribes about that region concluded treaties of peace with 
the English. The chief Pontiac, however, took no part in the 
pacific negotiations. Having been deceived by the French, 

*Gordon's History of Pennsylvania, 438. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 93 

overpowered by the English, and deserted by the Indians, he 
retired to the Illinois country, where he was assassinated, in 
the year 1767.* 

On the 3d day of October, 1764, the forces under Colonel 
Bouquet, consisting of fifteen hundred men, moved from Fort 
Pitt, and, on the 25th of the same month, reached the forks of 
the Muskingum river, where they encamped. At this point. 
Colonel Bouquet held conferences with the Delawares, Shawa- 
nees, and bands of some other tribes. The Indians, who were 
in an impoverished and feeble state, gave pledges for their good 
behavior until peace should be fully concluded with Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson, the British Superintendent of Indian Affairs. 
They also gave up two hundred and six prisoners, men, women 
and children. The English forces then returned to Fort Pitt, 
and a cessation of hostilities was proclaimed on the 5th of De- 
cember.f From this period until the year 1774, the Indians 
who occupied the country about the borders of the river Ohio, 
waged no war against the British colonies; although, in the 
meantime, many English colonists, disregarding the proclama- 
tion of the king, the provisions of treaties, the remonstrances of 
the Indians, and the prohibitory proclamations of the governors 
of Pennsylvania and Virginia, continued to harass the Indians, 
by making settlements upon their lands, and by killing a con- 
siderable number of their men, women, and children.J 

On the 30th of December, 1764, General Gage, commander- 
in-chief of the British forces in North America, having receiv- 
ed advices of the pacific disposition of the northwestern Indians 
issued the following proclamation, affecting the French inhab- 
itants of the Illinois country. 

"By his Excellency Thomas Gage, Major General of the 
King's Armies, Colonel of the 22d Regiment, General com- 
manding in chief all the forces of his Majesty in North Amer- 
ica, &c. &c. &c. 

"Whereas, by the peace concluded at Paris, on the 10th of 
February, 1763, the country of the Illinois has been ceded to 

♦Carver's Travels, 104. 

fGordon, 437. 

tJefferson's Notes on Virginia, 312.— Gordon's His. Pennsylvania, 447. 



94 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

his Britannic Majesty, and the taking possession of the said 
country of the Ilhnois, by the troops of his Majesty, though 
delayed, has been determined upon, we have found it good to 
make known to the inhabitants: — 

That his Majesty grants to the inhabitants of the Illinois the 
liberty of the Catholic religion, as it has already been granted 
to his subjects in Canada: he has consequently given the most 
precise and effective orders, to the end, that his new Roman 
Catholic subjects of the Illinois may exercise the worship of 
their religion according to the rites of the Roman church, in 
the same manner as in Canada: 

That his Majesty, moreover, agrees, that the French inhabi- 
tants, or others, who have been subjects of the most Christian 
King, may retire, in full safety and freedom, wherever they 
please, even to New Orleans, or any other part of Louisiana, 
although it should happen that the Spaniards take possession 
of it in the name of his Catholic Majesty; and they may sell 
their estates, provided it be to subjects of his Majesty, and 
transport their eftects, as well as their persons, without res- 
traint upon their emigration, under any pretence whatever, 
except in consequence of debts or of criminal process: 

That those who choose to retain their lands and become 
subjects of his Majesty, shall enjoy the same rights and privi- 
leges, the same security for their persons and effects, and lib- 
erty of trade, as the old subjects of the king : 

That they are commanded, by these presents, to take the 
oath of fidelity and obedience to his Majesty, in presence of 
Sieur Sterling, captain of the Highland Regiment, the bearer 
hereof, and furnished with our full powers for this purpose: 

That we recommend forcibly to the inhabitants, to conduct 
themselves like good and faithful subjects, avoiding by a wise 
and prudent demeanor, all cause of complaint against them: 

That they act in concert with his Majesty's officers, so that 
his troops may take peaceable possession of all the posts, and 
order be kept in the country ; by this means alone they will 
spare his Majesty the necessity of recurring to force of arms, 
and will find themselves saved from the scourge of a bloody 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 95 

war, and of all the evils which the march of an army into their 
country would draw after it. 

We direct that these presents be read, published, and posted 
up in the usual places. 

Done and given at Head Quarters, New York. Signed with 
our hand, sealed with our seal at arms, and countersigned by 
our Secretary, this 3Qth December, 1764. 

THOMAS GAGE, [L. S.] 

By His Excellency, 

G. Maturin. 

In the month of July, 1765, M. de St. Ange, who was at 
that time the French commandant in the Illinois, evacuated 
Fort Chartres, and proceeded with a small force to St. Louis, 
a settlement which had been founded early in 1764, on the 
western bank of the Mississippi. A detachment of English 
troops then took possession of the evacuated fort, and the Brit- 
ish commandant in the Illinois country established his head- 
quarters at that place. Of the French population, while some 
took the oath of fidelity and obedience to the government of 
Great Britain, and continued to occupy their ancient posses- 
sions in and about the villages of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and 
Prairie du Rocher, others removed to the territories on the 
western side of the river Mississippi, where the authority of 
France was still in force, although the country had been ceded 
to Spain. 

Fort Chartres which was rebuilt in 1756, was in shape an 
irregular quadrangle, with four bastions. The sides of the ex- 
terior polygon were about four hundred and ninety feet in 
extent.* The walls, which were of stone and plastered over, 
were two feet two inches thick, and fifteen feet high, with 
loop-holes at regular distances, and two port-holes for cannon 
in each face, and two in the flanks of each bastion. There 
were two sally-ports; and Avithin the wall was a banquette 
raised three feet for the men to stand upon, when they fired 
through the loop-holes. The buildings within the fort were 
the commandant's and the commissary's houses, the magazine 

♦Hall. 



96 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

of stores, the guard house, and two Imes of barracks. Within 
the gorge of one of the bastions was a prison with four dun- 
geons. In the gorges of the other three bastions were the 
powder magazine, the bake-house, and some smaller buildings* 
The commandant's house was ninety-six feet long and thirty 
feet deep, containing a dining room, a parlor, a bed-chamber, 
a kitchen, five closets, for servants, and a cellar. The commis- 
sary's house was built in a line with this edifice, and its propor- 
tions and distribution of apartments were the same. Opposite 
these were the store-house and guard-house , each ninety feet 
long by twenty-four feet deep. The former contained two 
large store rooms, with vaulted cellars under the whole, a large 
room, a bed-chamber, and a closet for the keeper. The guard- 
house contained soldiers' and officers' guard rooms, a chapel, a 
bed-chamber, and a closet for the chaplain ; and an artillery 
store room. The lines of the barracks, two in number, were 
never completely finished. They consisted of two rooms in 
each line for officers, and three for soldiers. The rooms were 
twenty-two feet square, with passages between them. All the 
buildings were of solid masonry. The ruins of this fort may 
still be seen, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, about 
twenty-five miles above the mouth of the river Kaskaskia, in 
the state of Illinois.* 

*In the writings of James Hall, who visited the site of Fort Chartres about the year 
1832, there is an interesting account of these ruins. "Altliougli," says Hall, "the spot was 
familiar to my companion. It was with some difficulty that we found the ruins, which are 
now covered and surrounded with a young but vigorous and gigantic growth of forest trees, 
and with a dense undergrowth of bushes and vines, through which we forced our way with 
considerable labor. Even the crumbling pile itself is thus overgrown; the tall trees rearing 
their stems from piles of stones, and the vines creeping over the tottering walls. The build- 
ings were all razed to the ground, but the lines of the foundations could be easily traced. A 
large vaulted powder magazine remained in good preservation. The exterior wall, the 
most interesting vestige, as it gave the general outline of the whole, was thrown down in 
some places ; but in many retained something like its original height and form ; and it was 
curious to see in the gloom of a wild forest, these remnants of the architecture of a past 
age. One angle of the fort and an entire bastion had been undermined and swejit entirely 
away by the river, which, having expended its force in this direction, was again retiring, 
and a narrow belt of young timber had grown up between the water's edge and the ruins." 



CHAPTER V. 

The government of Great Britain liaving nominally extend- 
ed its dominion over the vast territories lying northvv^est of 
the river Ohio, the British commandants in those regions exer- 
cised their authority, without departing in a material manner 
from the policy which had been pursued by their French pre- 
decessors. In 1765, the aggregate number of French families 
within the limits of the northwestern territory (comprising the 
settlements about Detroit, those near the river Wabash, and 
the colony in the neighborhood of Fort Chartres,) did not, 
probably, exceed six hundred. Of these families, about eighty 
or ninety resided at Post Vincennes; about fourteen were 
settled at Fort Ouiatenon, on the river Wabash; and at the 
Twiarhtwee village, which was situated near the confluence of 
the St. Joseph and St. Mary rivers, there were nine or ten 
French houses.* These three small colonies were, at that 
time, the only white settlements in all the large territory 
which now lies within the boundaries of the state of Indiana. 
At Detroit and in the neighborhood of that place, there were 
about three hundred and fifty French families. The remainder 
of the French population resided at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Prairie 
du Rocher, and in the vicinity of those villages. 

The colonial policy which was adopted by Great Britain, 
immediately after the treaty of 1763, offered to the English 
colonists in North America no inducements to advance their 
settlements into the regions on the western side of the Alle- 
gheny mountains. By a proclamation of the 7th of October, 
1763, the king forbade all his subjects "from making any pur- 
chases, or settlements whatever, or taking possession of any 

*Croghan's Journal. 

13 



98 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

of the lands, beyond the sources of any of the rivers which fall 
into the Atlantic ocean from the west or northwest;" and, at 
the suggestion of the English Board of Trade and Plantations, 
the British government took measures to confine the English 
settlements in America, " to such a distance from the sea coast 
as that those settlements should lie within the reach of the 
trade and commerce of Great Britain.* In pursuing this policy 
the government rejected the propositions of various individuals 
who proposed to establish English colonies in the west. 

In 1769, the commander-in-chief of the king's forces in 
North America wrote as follows to the Earl of Hillsborough, 
who presided over the Colonial Department: "As to increas- 
ing the settlements [northwest of the river Ohio] to respectable 
provinces, and to colonization in general terms in the remote 
countries, I conceive it altogether inconsistent with sound pol- 
icy. I do not apprehend the inhabitants could have any com- 
modities to barter for manufactures, except skins and furs, 
which will naturally decrease as the country increases in peo- 
ple, and the deserts are cultivated ; so that, in the course of a 
few years, necessity would force them to provide manufactures 
of some kind for themselves, and when all connexion upheld 
by commerce with the mother country shall cease, it may be 
expected that an independency in her government will soon 
follow. The laying open of new tracts of fertile country in 
moderate climates might lessen the present supply of the com- 
modities of America, for it is the passion of every man to be a 
landholder, and the people have a natural disposition to rove 
in search of good land, however distant." Similar to these 
opinions, were those of the royal Governor of Georgia, who, 
in a letter to the British Lords of Trade, wrote as follows : 
"This matter, my Lords, of granting large bodies of land in 
the back parts of any of his majesty's northern colonies, ap- 
pears to me in a very serious and alarming light; and I hum- 
bly conceive, may be attended with the greatest and worst of 
consequences ; for, my Lords, if a vast territory be granted to 
any set of gentlemen, who really mean to people it, and actu- 

♦Report of the Board of Trade and Plantations to the Lords of the Privy Council. 



& 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 99 

ally do so, it must draw and cany out a great number of peo- 
ple from Great Britain, and I apprehend they will soon become 
a kind of separate and independent people, who will set up for 
themselves; that they will soon have manufactures of their 
own; and in process of time they will become formidable 
enough to oppose his majesty's authority." 

In the course of the year 1770, several persons, from Vir- 
ginia and other British Provinces, explored and marked nearly 
all the valuable lands " not only on the Red Stone and other 
waters of the Monongahela, but along the Ohio as low as the 
Little Kanawha."* 

On the 20th of October, 1770, George Washington, Doct. 
Craik, Capt. Crawford, Joseph Nicholson, Robert Bell, William 
Harrison, Charles Morgan, and Daniel Rendon, embarked, at 
Pittsburgh, in a pirogue, and descended the river Ohio to the 
mouth of the Kanawha. They ascended the latter stream 
about fourteen miles ; killed five buffaloes on the 2d of Novem- 
ber; marked some large tracts of land above the mouth of the 
Kanawha ; and then returned to Pittsburgh. At this time the 
village of Pittsburgh was composed of about twenty log houses, 
inhabited by Indian traders ; and the garrison of Fort Pitt 
consisted of two companies of Royal Irish, commanded by 
Captain Edmonson. 

A proclamation of General Gage, which appeared in 1772, 
was the first official act of the British government that dis- 
turbed the quiet of the French settlements on the river Wa- 
bash, after the peace of 1763. That proclamation was in the 
words following: — 

" By his Excellency Thomas Gage, Lieutenant General of 
the King's Armies, Colonel of the 22d Regiment, General com- 
manding in chief all the forces of his Majesty in North Amer- 
ica, &c. &c. &c. 

" Whereas many persons, contrary to the positive orders of 
the King upon this subject, have undertaken to make settle- 
ments beyond the boundaries fixed by the treaties made with 
the Indian nations, which boundaries ought to serve as a bar- 

♦Washington's Journal, of 1770. 



100 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

rier between the whites and the said nations; and a great 
number of persons have estabUshed themselves, particularly on 
the river Ouabache, where they lead a wandering life, without 
government, and without laws, interrupting the free course of 
trade, destroying the game, and causing infinite disturbance in 
the country, which occasions a considerable injury to the af- 
fairs of the King, as well as to those of the Indians : His Ma- 
jesty has been pleased to order, and by these Presents orders 
are given in the name of the King, to all those who have estab- 
lished themselves on the lands upon the Ouabache, whether at 
St. Vincent * or elsewhere, to quit those countries instantly 
and without delay, and to retire, at their choice, into some one 
of the colonies of his Majesty, where they will be received and 
treated as the other subjects of his Majesty. Done, and given 
at Head Quarters, New York. Signed with our hand, sealed 
with our seal a:t arms, and countersigned by our Secretary, 
this 8th of April, 1772. — By order of the King. 

THOMAS GAGE. 
By His Excellency, 

G. Maturin, Sec. 

On the 14th of September, 1772, the French inhabitants 
settled at Post Vincennes, despatched a letter to General 
Gage, in which they stated that their possessions were held 
by "sacred titles;" that their settlement was of "seventy years 
standing;" and that their "lands had been granted by order 
and under the protection of his most Christian Majesty" the 
King of France. To this letter of the inhabitants of Post 
Vincennes, General Gage transmitted the following answer: 

" New York, April 2d, 1773. 

"Gentlemen: — I have received your letter of the 14th of 
September last, with the representations annexed, which I in- 
tend to cause, in a few days, to be transported to the feet of 
his Majesty. 

" As you claim your possession by sacred titles, insinuating 
that your settlement is of seventy years standing, and that the 
lands have been granted by order and under the protection of 

*Vincennes. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 101 

his most Christian Majesty, it is necessary that his Majesty 
should be informed very particularly upon these points ; and it 
is important to you, to give convincing proofs of all that you 
allege in this respect. 

" To this end, I have to demand, without delay, the name of 
every inhabitant at Vincennes and its neighborhood, and by 
what title each one claims ; if it is by a concession, the year 
of the concession must be added, as well as the name of the 
officer who made it, and the name of the Governor-General 
who approved and confirmed it with [word unintelligible and 
omitted, probably "the date" or "the page" or "num'ber"] also, 
of the records where each concession shall have been register- 
ed. That the report which I expect may be better understood, 
I annex hereto a form, which I beg you to follow exactly, and 
to put me as early as possible in a situation to push forward 
your business. 

I am, gentlemen. 

Your most humble, and most obedient servant, 

THOMAS GAGE. 

Mr. de St. Marie, and the other inhabitants settled at Post 
Vincennes." 

About this time, whilp the English colonies in North Amer» 
ica were rising in opposition to the policy of the government 
of Great Britain, the latter began to adopt measures to gain 
the attachment of the French population of Canada and the 
Illinois country. In the month of December, 1773, divers 
French inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, sent to the king 
a memorial, wherein they said: "The Province of Quebec, as 
it is now bounded, by a line passing through the forty-fifth 
degree of north latitude, is confined within too narrow limits. 
This line is only fifteen leagues distant from Montreal; and 
yet it is only on this side that the lands of the Province are 
fertile and that agriculture can be cultivated to much advan- 
tage. We desire, therefore, that as under the French Govern- 
ment our colony was permitted to extend over all the upper coun- 
tries known under the names of Michilimackinac, Detroit, and 
other adjacent places, as far as the Mississippi, so it may now 



102 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

be enlarged to the same extent. And this re-annexation of 
these inland posts to this Province is the more necessary on 
account of the Fur Trade which the people of this Province 
carry on to them: Because, in the present state of things, as 
there are no Courts of Justice whose jurisdiction extends to 
those distant places, those of the Factors we send to them with 
our Goods to trade with the Indians for their Furs, who hap- 
pen to prove dishonest, continue in them, out of the reach of 
their creditors, and live upon the profits of the Goods entrust- 
ed to their care — which entirely ruins this colony, and turns 
these posts into harbors for rogues and vagabonds, whose 
wicked and violent conduct is often likely to give rise to wars 
with the Indians."* 

On the 2d of June, 1774, the British Parliament passed an 
act which extended the boundaries of the Province of Quebec 
so as to include the territories which now lie within the limits 
of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. The act 
also secured to the French inhabitants the free exercise of their 
religion, and to the Roman Catholic clergy those rights which 
were agreeable to the articles of capitulation at the time of the 
surrender of the Province. In addition to these privileges, the 
same act of Parliament restored to thg French inhabitants of 
the Province of Quebec, their ancient laws in civil cases, with- 
out a trial by jury.f The extension of the Province beyond 
the limits described in the proclamation of 1763, was "justified 
by the plea, that several French families were settled in remote 
parts of the country, beyond the former districts, and an entire 
colony was established among the Illinois Indians." J The 

♦ American Archives, 4tb ser. i, p. 1848. 

tin 1764 a Court of King's Bench and a Court of Common Pleas were established in 
the Province of Canada. The Canadians were not opposed to the criminal law of England; 
but they objected to the course of the English law in civil trials. Their opposition to the 
trial by jury was remarkable; and they often said that "they thought it very extraordinary 
that English gentlemen should think their property safer in the determination of tailors and 
shosmakers, mixed with the people in trade, than in that of the judges." A Mr. Maseres, 
of Canada, when under an examination before the British House of Commons, In 1774, said 
"that the Canadians had no clear notions of government, having never been used to any 
such speculations." — [Proceedings on the Quebec bill in the British House of Commons, 
June. 1774. 

JBisset, i, 375. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 103 

privileges which were granted to the Roman Catholics, the 
great enlargement of the boundaries of Canada, and the estab- 
lishment of French laws and customs in that Province were 
regarded with sentiments of strong disapprobation by the 
English inhabitants of the British colonies in America. They 
viewed it as a stroke of ministerial policy, designed to secure 
the co-operation of the French in the subjugation of those col- 
onists who had opposed the Stamp act, and who were at that 
time arrayed in opposition to other arbitrary acts of the gov- 
ernment of Great Britain. Thus, the passage of the Quebec 
bill, while it secured the attachment of the French inhabitants 
of Canada, contributed in some degree to sever the political 
ties by which the English colonies in America were bound to 
the mother country. On the 22d of September, 1774, in a 
Convention which was held at Falmouth in the Province of 
Massachusetts, the assembly adopted a report which contained 
these words :^ — "As the very extraordinary and alarming act 
for establishing the Roman Catholic religion and French laws 
in Canada may introduce the French or Indians into our fron- 
tier towns, we recommend that every town and individual in 
this country should be provided with a proper stock of military 
stores, according to our Province law; and that some patriotic 
military officers be chosen in each town to exercise their sev- 
eral companies and make them perfect in the military art." 

The French colonists of America, perceiving that the people 
of the English provinces were inclined to deprive them of the 
privileges which had been granted to them by the Quebec act, 
ardently supported the cause of Great Britain during the early 
part of the American revolutionary war. At the French set- 
tlements in the country northwest of the Ohio, Indian war 
parties were often supplied with arms and ammunition, and 
sent to assail the western frontiers of the English colonies. 

Early in the year 1773, notwithstanding the remonstrances 
of the English traders in the west, the troops were withdrawn 
from Fort Pitt, by order of General Gage, and the Assembly 
of Pennsylvania refused to maintain a garrison at that post. 
Soon after this event occurred, many adventurers from Vir- 



104 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

ginia, some from Maryland, and a few from North Carolina, 
crossed the Allegheny mountains for the purpose of surveying 
the lands and making settlements in the country on the south- 
ern borders of the river Ohio. The lands in the neighborhood 
of Fort Pitt were surveyed for the Proprietaries of Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1769, and " Magistrates were appointed to act there 
in the beginning of 1771."* In 1774, Governor Dunmore, 
from motives which have never been satisfactorily explained, 
began to encourage the English colonists to take warrants 
from him for lands in the west ; and, under the pretence that 
Fort Pitt was within the boundary of Virginia, he appointed 
magistrates to act at that place. One of these magistrates, 
John Conolly, who was also one of the patentees of a tract of 
land lying about the Falls of Ohio, collected a number of men, 
established a garrison at Fort Pitt, changed the name of that 
post to Fort Dunmore, and sent out small parties for the pur- 
pose of building forts lower down the river Ohio. 

In the latter part of April, 1774, a number of people being 
eno-ao-ed in looking out for settlements on the Ohio, informa- 
tion was spread among them, that the Indians had robbed 
some of the land-jobbers, as those adventurers were called. 
Alarmed for their safety they collected together at Wheeling 
creek. Hearing there that there were two Indians and some 
traders at a place not far above Wheeling, Michael Cresap, one 
of the party, proposed to way-lay and kill them. The propo- 
sition, though opposed,t was adopted. A party went up the 
river, with Cresap at their head, and killed the two Indians. 
The same afternoon it was reported that there was a party of 
Indians on the Ohio, a few miles below Wheeling. Cresap 
and his party immediately proceeded down the river, and en- 
camped on the banks. The Indians passed him peaceably, and 
encamped, below him, at the mouth of Grave-creek. Cresap 



*Letter from Gov. Penn to Lord Dunmore, 31st March, 1774. 

t "On our arrival at the Wheeling, being informed that there were two Indians with 
some traders near and above Wheeling, a proposition was made by the then Captain Mi- 
chael Cresap to way-lay and kill the Indians upon the river. This measure I opposed 
with much violence, alleging that the killing of these Indians might involve the country 
in a war." — [Letter of Col. Ebenezer Zane. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 105 

and his party attacked them and killed several. The Indians 
returned the fire, and wounded one of Cresap's party."* — 
Among the slain of the Indians were some of the family of the 
Cayuga Chief Logan, who had distinguished himself as the 
friend of white men. A few days after these murders were 
perpetrated, a party of thirty-two men, under one Daniel 
Greathouse, massacred twelve or thirteen Indians at a place 
near " Bakers Bottom," on the Ohio, about forty miles above 
Wheeling. This massacre was effected by means of a very 
dishonorable stratagem. A party of Indians, on their way 
down the Ohio, heard of the murders near Wheeling, and fear- 
ing to proceed, they encamped at the mouth of Big Yellow 
creek, opposite the house of one Joshua Baker, who had settled 
on a tract of land which was called Baker's Bottom. The party 
under Greathouse lay in ambush, while their leader crossed the 
river to the camp of the Indians, and under the mask of friend- 
ship counted their numbers, and found them too strong for an 
open attack with his force. While he was at the camp, he was 
cautioned by one of the Indian women to go home, because 
the Indian men were drinking, and angry on account of the 
murder of their relations. On leaving the camp, Greathouse 
invited the Indians to go over to the house of Baker, and drink. 
He then re-crossed the river, and requested Baker to give any 
of the Indians who might come over, as much rum as they 
might call for, " and get as many of them drunk as he possibly 
could" t Several Indians, among whom were two women and 
a little girl, crossed the river, and went to the house of Baker, 
where the men soon became intoxicated. Greathouse and his 
party then fell upon the drunken Indians, and slaughtered the 
men and women. The little Indian girl alone was spared. 
The party of Indians on the other side of the river, on hearing 
the report of guns, sent a canoe with two men in it to enquire 
what had happened. As soon as these two men landed on the 
beach, they were killed by the whites. A number of armed 
Indians, in another canoe, attempted to reach the shore some 

»Jefferson'3 Notes on Virginia, 332- 
tDoddridge'3 Notes, 227 Jcflerson's Notes, 334. 

14 



106 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

distance below Baker's house; but they were met by a fire from 
the party under Greathouse, which killed some, wounded oth- 
ers, and obliged the rest to retreat. 

The English settlers on the borders of the Ohio, knowing 
that the Indians, in consequence of these murders, would make 
war upon them, either moved away from the frontiers or pre- 
pared to defend themselves by building forts and block-houses. 
As soon as information of these events reached the seat of gov- 
ernment of Pennsylvania, the authorities of that Province des- 
patched messengers to assure the Indians that the acts of the 
white men who were commanded by Cresap and Greathouse, 
were not sanctioned by the people of Pennsylvania. Believing 
these assurances, the Indians, in detached parties composed of 
Mingoes, Delawares, and Shawanees, began to make war upon 
the settlers along the whole extent of the western frontiers of 
Virginia. To protect the western settlements, and to punish 
the hostile Indians, the government of that Province soon gave 
orders to raise an army of three thousand men. The southern 
division of this army, under the command of Colonel Andrew 
Lewis, was ordered to march through the Greenbriar country, 
to the mouth of the Great Kanawha river. The other division, 
under the command of Governor Dunmore, was to rendezvous 
at Fort Pitt, and from that point, descend the river Ohio, 
to form a junction with Colonel Lewis, at the mouth of the 
Kanawha. 

On the 20th of June, 1774, Governor Dunmore, who was 
then at Williamsburgh, the seat of government in Virginia, 
wrote as follows, to John Conolly, one of the Virginia magis- 
trates at Fort Pitt : " I hope you will prevail on the Delawares 
and the well affected part of the Mingoes to move off from the 
Shawanees. It is highly necessary that you continue at Fort 
Dunmore, [Fort Pitt,] and I think, therefore, that you could 
not do better than to send Captain William Crawford with 
what men you can spare to join him, and to co-operate with 
Colonel Lewis, or to strike a stroke himself, if he thinks he can 
do it with safety. * * * I would recommend it to all officers 
going out on parties to make as many prisoners as they can of 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 107 

women and children; and should you be so fortunate as to re- 
duce those savages to sue for peace, / would not grant it to 
them on any terms till they ivere effectually chastised ; and then 
on no terms without bnnging in six of their heads as hostages 
for their good behavior, and these to be reUeved annually ; and 
that they trade with us only for what they may want." 

In the latter part of July, 1774, while Governor Dunmore 
and Colonel Lewis vvere raising troops for the main expedition, 
about four hundred men, under the command of Major Angus 
McDonald, crossed the Ohio at the mouth of Fish creek, below 
Wheeling, and marched into the Indian country to destroy the 
Shawanees villages on the Muskingum, near Wappatomica.* 
On arriving at a point within six or seven miles of the first 
village, the force under McDonald was met by a small party 
of Indians, and in the course of some skirmishes, which slightly 
interrupted the march of the troops, six Indians were killed, 
and several wounded. In the mean time the Indian women 
and children evacuated the villages and sought refuge in the 
woods. The party under Major McDonald arrived at the first 
village. "We set fire to the town," says an actor in these 
proceedings, " and destroyed every thing of value. * * * From 
this town we proceeded to the rest, five in number, all of which 
we burnt, together with about five hundred bushels of old corn, 
and every other thing they had. We also cut down and des- 
troyed about seventy acres of standing corn. No Indians 
appearing and provisions falling short, we returned to Wheel- 
ing." t 

Early in the month of September, about eleven hundred 
men, under the command of Colonel Andrew Lewis, commen- 
ced their march from camp Union, distant about one hundred 
and sixty miles from the mouth of the Great Kanawha, Pass- 
ing through the Greenbriar country, and down the valley of 
the Great Kanawha, these troops, about the 5th of October, 
1774, reached the point of land formed by the confluence of 
the Ohio and Great Kanawha rivers. On this point the army 

♦About sixteen miles below the town of Coshocton, Ohio. 
tAmerican Archives, 4th series, i, 722. 



108 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

encamped, in two lines, to await the arrival of the forces under 
Governor Dunmore. Scouts and hunters were daily sent out 
from the encampment; but no Indians were discovered until 
the morning of the lOth of October. On that morning, " by 
break of day," two soldiers left the camp and started up the 
river Ohio, for the purpose of killing game. After walking 
about a mile and a half, they discovered a large body of Indians 
who were apparently making preparations to march against 
the encampment of Colonel Lewis. The Indians fired on the 
two hunters, and killed one of them : the other ran back to the 
camp of the Virginians, and, being considerably frightened, 
reported that he had seen " a body of the enemy covering five 
acres of ground, as closely as they could stand." * Colonel 
Andrew Lewis immediately ordered two detachments, each of 
about one hundred and fifty men, to advance against the In- 
dians. These detachments, led by Colonel William Fleming, 
and Colonel Charles Lewis, marched out in two lines, and met 
the Indians in the same order, about four hundred yards from 
the camp. The battle commenced about sunrise ; and at the 
onset the heavy fire of the Indians forced the detachments un- 
der Lewis and Fleming to fall back until they were reinforced 
by a detachment of two hundred men under Major John Field. 
The Indians then retreated a little way, and taking positions 
behind trees and logs, extended their line of attack almost from 
the bank of the Ohio to that of the Kanawha. The Virginia 
forces immediately extended their line of battle, and, adopting 
the Indian mode of warfare, fought under the cover of trees. 
The conflict was then fiercely maintained, until about one 
o'clock, when it began to abate; but the belligerent forces, 
each party watching the other,t continued to fire occasional 
shots, until the Indians, at the approach of night, left the field. 
On that evening Colonel Christian reached the scene of action 
with a reinforcement of three hundred troops from Fincastle, 
Virginia; and in the course of the night the Indians retreated 
across the river Ohio. 

♦Proceedings of the Historical Society of Virginia. 

t " Tliere we remained watching the Indians, and they us, till near night ; now and 
than firing as opportunity offered on either side." [Letter from an officer in the engagement, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 109 

In this engagement, the Indians (whose force amounted to 
eight or nine hundred men) were led, principally, by Cornstalk, 
a Shawanee ; Red Hawk, a Delaw'are ; Logan, a Cayuga, and 
Elenipsico, a son of Cornstalk. While the battle raged hotly, 
the Virginians often heard the voice of Cornstalk, the Shawa- 
nee, crying in loud tones to the Indians "5e strong! be strong!" 

On the morning of the 11th, twenty-one Indians were found 
dead, on the battle field : the bodies of twelve more were after- 
wards found in places where they had been concealed ; and it 
is probable that a considerable number of dead bodies were 
thrown into the rivers, during the engagement. The loss of 
the Virginians was seventy-five killed ; and one hundred and 
forty wounded. Among the killed were Colonel Charles Lewis 
and Major Field. 

Soon after the return of the expedition under Major Angus 
McDonald, Governor Dunmore with about one thousand men, 
descended the Ohio, from Fort Pitt to the mouth of the Hock- 
hocking. Here he built a small fortification, which he named 
Fort Gower, in honor of Earl Gower. From this point he 
resolved to march across the country to the Shawanee towns 
on the river Scioto. Some time before the battle was fought 
at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, he sent despatches to 
Colonel Andrew Lewis, to inform that officer of the change in 
the plan of operations. These despatches were received before 
the 10th of October. 

On the 17th- of October, Colonel Lewis, leaving at his en- 
campment a detachment of three hundred men to take care of 
the sick and wounded, crossed the Ohio with the remainder of 
the Virginia troops, and marched on his way to join Dunmore. 
In the mean time the Governor had penetrated the Indian 
country, and halted his army at Camp Charlotte, about eight 
miles from a Shawanee village Avhich stood on the banks of 
the river Scioto. Before the army reached this point, the 
remonstrances of the Governor of Pennsylvania, the interces- 
sion of the powerful Six Nations in behalf of the Shawanees, 
and the intimations of the Earl of Dartmouth, induced Gov- 
ernor Dunmore to change his policy in regard to the hostile 



110 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Indians. He determined to conclude a peace with them. On 
the 24th of October, Colonel Lewis, by an express from Dun- 
more, received an order to withdraw with his forces from the 
Indian country on the northwestern side of the Ohio. This 
command was not obeyed until Dunmore himself visited the 
camp of Colonel Lewis, " was introduced to his officers, and 
gave the order in person." * The army under Lewis then re- 
luctantly retired. Governor Dunmore returned to Camp Char- 
lotte, and opened a treaty of peace with the Shawanees and 
their confederates. The Indians agreed to give up their pris- 
oners, to restore the horses which had been taken from the 
whites, and to abandon the lands on the southeastern side of 
the river Ohio.f They gave hostages to Dunmore to secure 
the performance of these stipulations; and promised to meet 
him at Fort Pitt in the spring of the next year [1775,] for the 
purpose of concluding a definitive treaty of peace and friend- 
ship with the Virginians. J 

*Doddridge, 233. 

I " The Indians bave delivered up all the white prisoners in their towns, with the 
horses and other plunder they took from the inliabitants ; and even oftered to give up their 
own horses. They have agreed to abandon the lands on this [southeastern] side of the 
Ohio, which river is to be the boundary between them and the white people." — [Am. Arch, 
4th series, i, 1014. 

JA deposition which was made at Pittsburgh, on the 4th of April, 1000, by John Gib- 
son, Esq. who was the first Secretary of the Indiana Territory, contains the following 
statements : — " This deponent further saith that in the year 1774, he accompanied Lord 
Dunmore on the expedition against the Shawanees and other Indians on the Scioto ; that 
on their arrival within fifteen miles of the towns, they were met by a flag, and a white 
man of the name of Elliott, who informed Lord Dunmore that the chiefs of the Shawanees 
had sent to request his Lordship to halt his army, and send in some person who under- 
stood their language; tliat this deponent, at the request of Lord Dunmore and the whole 
of the officers with him, went in ; that on his arrival at the towns, LOGAN, the Indian, 
came to where this deponent was sitting with Cornstalk and the other chiefs of the Shaw- 
anees, and asked him to walk out with him ; that they went into a copse of wood, where 
they sat down, when Logan, after shedding abundance of tears, delivered to him the speech 
nearly as related by Mr. Jeflerson in his Notes on the state of Virginia." The following 
is the speech of the chief Logan, as it appears in Jefferson's Notes, p. 91. 

" I appeal to any white man to say, if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he 
gave him not meat ; if he ever came cold and naked, and be clothed him not. During the 
course of the last long and bloody war Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for 
peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and 
said 'Logan is the friend of white men.' I had even thought to have lived with you, but 
for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. Ill 

At Fort Gower, on the 5th of November, the officers of 
Dunmore's army held a meeting, at a which one of them spoke 
as follows: "Gentlemen: Having now concluded the campaign 
by the assistance of Providence, with honor and advantage to 
the colony and ourselves, it only remains that we should give 
our country the strongest assurance that we are ready at all 
times to the utmost of our power to maintain and defend her 
just rights and privileges. We have lived about three mouths 
in the woods, without any intelligence from Boston or from 
the delegates at Philadelphia.* It is possible, from the ground- 
less reports of designing men, that our countrymen may be 
jealous of the use such a body would make of arms in their 
hands at this critical juncture. That we are a respectable 
body is certain, when it is considered that we can live weeks 
without bread or salt, that we can sleep in the open air with- 
out any covering but that of the canopy of Heaven, and that 
our men can march and shoot with any in the known world. 
Blessed with these talents let us solemnly engage to one an- 
other, and our country in particular, that we will use them to 
no purpose but for the honor and advantage of America in 
general, and of Virginia in particular. It behooves us, then^ 
for the satisfaction of our country, that we should give them 
our real sentiments, by way of Resolves, at this very alarming 
crisis." The following resolutions were then adopted by the 
meeting, without a dissenting voice, and ordered to be pub- 
lished in the Virginia Gazette. 

^'Resolved, That we will bear the most faithful allegiance to 
his Majesty King George the Third, while his Majesty delights 
to reign over a brave and free people ; that we will, at the ex- 
pense of life and every thing dear and valuable, exert ourselves 
in support of the honor of his Crown and the dignity of the 

murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs 
not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. 
I have sought it : I have killed many : I have fully glutted my vengeance ; for my country 
I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. 
Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to 
mourn for Logan? Not one." 

*Thc Continental Congress, which convened on the 5th September, 1774. 



112 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

British Empire. But as tiie love of liberty, and attachments to 
the real interests and just rights of America, outweigh every 
other consideration, we resolve that w-e will exert every power 
within us for the defence of American liberty, and for the sup- 
porting of her just rights and privileges; not in any precipitate, 
riotous, and tumultuous manner; but when regularly called 
forth by the unanimous voice of our countrymen. 

*^ResoIved, That we entertain the greatest respect for His 
Excellencv the Right Honourable Lord Dunmore, who com- 
manded the expedition against the Shawanees, and who, we 
are confident, underwent the great fatigue of this singular cam- 
paign from no other motive than the true interest of this 
country." 

Thus closed the expedition of John Murray, Earl of Dun- 
more, the last British governor of the province of Virginia. 
He arrived at Williamsburgh, in that province, on the 4th of 
December, 1774; but he never returned to the valley of the 
Ohio, to conclude a treaty of peace and friendship with the 
Indians. 

In the course of the years 1775 and 1776, by means of the 
operations of Land Companies,* and the perseverance of indi- 
vidual adventurers, several hundred settlers were added to the 
white population of the country lying between the Allegheny 
mountains and the river Ohio. In the mean time the English 
colonies in North America, acting wisely and justly in this in- 
stance, renounced their allegiance to Great Britain, and decla- 
red that they were, " and of right ought to be, free and inde- 

*0n tlie ITth of Mnrcli, 1775, Col. Richard Henderson and company, at a public coun- 
cil held on a branch of the river Holston, obtained from three distinguished Cherokee chiefs 
a deed for the territory bounded as follows: "Beginning on the Ohio river at the mouth of 
Kentucky, C enorn, or what, by the English, is called Louisa river; from thence, running 
up the said river and the most northwardly branch of the same, to the head spring thereof; 
thence, a southeast course to the top ridge of Powel's mountain ; thence westwardly along 
the ridge of the said mountain unto a point from which a northwest course will hit or strike 
the bend syiring of the most southwardly branch of Cumberland river; thence down the 
said river, including all its waters to the Ohio river; thence up the said river as it mean. 
dors to the beginning, &c." For this territory it appears that the Cherokee Indians recei- 
ved from Henderson and company " the sum of ten thousand pounds of lawful money of 
Great Britain," or " ten thousand pounds sterling in merchandise." — [Vide Butler's His. 
Kentucky, 2d ed. 14, 503. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 113 

pendent states." By the authority of the Continental Congress, 
commissioners were appointed to reside at Fort Pitt for the 
purpose of making treaties with the Indians in that region: 
and messengers were sent with pacific overtures from the new 
government to the southern and the northwestern tribes. To 
defeat the object of this policy, the British commandants and 
the loyal British traders in the country northwest of the Ohio, 
encouraged and supported by a considerable number of French 
auxiliaries, incited the Indians to assail the frontiers of the con- 
federated" states. From the speeches of two distinguished Del- 
aware chiefs, Buckongahelas and White Eyes, an inference 
may be drawn concerning the nature of the appeals which, 
about this time, were made to the Indians. Buckongahelas, 
who was the friend of the king of Great Britain, spoke to the 
Indians thus: "Friends! Listen to what I say to you! You see 
a great and powerful nation divided ! You see the father fight- 
ing against the son, and the son against the father ! The father 
has called on his Indian children, to assist him in punishing his 
children, the Americans, who have become refractory. I took 
time to consider what I should do ; whether or not I should 
receive the hatchet of my father, to assist him. At first I look- 
ed upon it as a family quarrel, in which I was not interested. 
However, at length, it appeared to me that the father was in 
the right; and his children deserved to be punished a little. 
That this must be the case, I concluded from the many cruel 
acts his offspring had committed from time to time on his Indian 
children, in encroaching on their land, stealing their property, 
shooting at, and murdering, without cause, men, women, and 
children. Yes ! even murdering those, who at all times had 
been friendly to them, and were placed for protection under 
the roof of their father's house — the father himself standing 
sentry at the door at the time.* Friends! often has the father 
been obliged to settle, and make amends for the wrongs and 
mischiefs done to us by his refractory children; yet these do 
not grow better. No: they remain the same; and will con- 
tinue to be so, as long as we have any land left us. Look back 

•■Alluding to the murder of the Conestoga Indians See Gordon's His. Pa. 405. 

15 



114 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

at the murders committed by the Long-knives on many of our 
relations, who lived peaceable neighbors to them on the Ohio. 
Did they not kill them without the least provocation? Are 
they, do you think, better now than they were then?"* 

At this period a Delaware chief whose Indian name was 
Koguethagechton, but who was called, by the Americans, Cap- 
tain White Eyes, lived in the valley of the river Muskingum. 
In the course of his eftbrts to explain the causes which produ- 
ced the Revolutionary war, and to establish relations of friend- 
ship between his tribe and the United States, he sometimes 
addressed the Delawares, in substance, as follows: — "Suppose 
a father had a little son whom he loved and indulged while 
young, but growing up to be a youth, began to think of hav- 
ing some help from him; and making up a small pack, bade 
him carry it for him. The boy cheerfully takes the pack, fol- 
lowing his father with it. The father, finding the boy willing 
and obedient, continues in his way; and as the boy grows 
stronger, so the father makes the pack in proportion larger: 
yet as long as the boy is able to carry the pack, he does so 
without grumbling. At length, however, the boy, having arri- 
ved at manhood, while the father is making up the pack for 
him, in comes a person of an evil disposition, and learning who 
was the carrier of the pack, advises the father to make it heav- 
ier, for surely the son is able to carry a large pack. The father 
listening rather to the bad adviser, than consulting his own 
judgment and the feelings of tenderness, follows the advice of 
the hard-hearted adviser, and makes up a heavy load for his 
son to carry. The son, now grown up, examining the weight 
of the load he is to carry, addresses the parent in these words : 
* Dear father, this pack is too heavy for me to carry ; do pray 
lighten it: I am willing to do what I can; but I am unable to 
carry this load.' The father's heart having by this time be- 
come hardened, and the bad adviser caUing to him, 'whip him, 
if he disobeys and refuses to carry the pack,' now in a peremp- 
tory tone, orders his son to take up the pack and carry it off, 
or he will whip him, and already takes up a stick to beat him. 



♦Heckewelder. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. • 115 

* So ! ' says the son, ' am I to be served thus, for not doing what 
I am unable to do! Well, if entreaties avail nothing with you, 
father — and it is to be decided by blows whether or not I am 
able to carry a pack so heavy — then I have no other choice 
left me, but that of resisting your unreasonable demand, by my 
strength; and so, striking each other, we may see who is the 
strongest.' " * 

♦Heckewelder. — [The speeches which were delivered by Buckongahelas and others, 
in favor of the king of Great Britain, were prepared by officers in the British Indian depart- 
ment ; and the reported speech of Captain White Eyes, in favor of the American colonies, 
was prepared by a committee of the Continental Congress, adopted by that body on the 
13th of July, 1775, and delivered to an assemblage of Indians at Pittsburgh, in the fall of 
the same y£ar Vide Am. Archives, 4th series, ii, p. 1880. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The events which have been related in the preceding chap- 
ter, show^ that, before the close of the year 1774, the govern- 
ment of Great Britain abandoned the project of confining the 
settlements of the English colonists in America to the regions 
lying on the eastern side of the Allegheny mountains. Indeed, 
the British ministry, soon after the year 1765, began to per- 
ceive that this project was impracticable. Although they re- 
jected various propositions for erecting new colonies in the 
interior parts of North America, yet this policy did not mate- 
rially check the growth of the English settlements in the west. 
In 1769, Lieutenant-Colonel John Wilkins,* British command- 
ant at Fort Chartres, in the Illinois country, granted several 
large tracts of land to English traders. This officer declared 
that these grants were made, because " the cultivation of lands 
not then appropriated, was essentially necessary and useful to- 
wards the better peopling and settlement of the said country, 
as well as highly advantageous to his Majesty's service, in the 
raising, producing, and supplying, provisions for his Majesty's 
troops, then stationed, or thereafter to be stationed, in the said 
country of the Illinois." f 

On the 5th of July, 1773, at a public council held at the 
village of Kaskaskia, an association of English traders and 
merchants, who styled themselves "the Illinois Land Com- 
pany," obtained from ten chiefs, of the Kaskaskia, Cahokia, 
and Peoria tribes, a deed for two very large tracts of land on 

*This officer signed his name and title thus: — "John Wilkins, Esquire. Lieutenant- 
Colonel of his Majesty's Eighteenth or Royal Regiment of Ireland, Governor and Com- 
mandant throughout the Illinois country." 

tLaws of the U. S. i, 509. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 117 

the east side of the river Mississippi. The first tract was 
bounded thus : " Beginning at the mouth of the Heron creek, 
called by the French the river of Mary, being about a league 
below the nnouth of the Kaskaskias river; thence a northward 
of east course, in a direct line back to the Hilly Plains, eight 
leagues, or thereabouts, be the same more or less ; thence, the 
same course, in a direct line to the Crab-tree Plains, seventeen 
leagues, or thereabouts, be the same more or less ; thence, the 
same course, in a direct line to a remarkable place, known by 
the name of the Big Buffalo Hoofs, seventeen leagues, or there-r 
abouts, be the same more or less; thence, the same course, in 
a direct line to the Salt Lick creek, about seven leagues, be the 
same more or less ; thence, crossing the said creek, about one 
league below the ancient Shavt-anees town, in an easterly or a 
little to the north of east course, in a direct line to the river 
Ohio, about four leagues, be the same more or less ; then down 
the Ohio, by the several courses thereof, until it empties itself 
into the Mississippi, about thirty-five leagues, be the same more 
or less; and then up the Mississippi, by the several courses 
thereof, to the place of beginning, thirty-three leagues, or 
thereabouts, be the same more or less." The second tract was 
bounded as follows: "Beginning at a place or point in a direct 
line opposite to the mouth of the Missouri river; thence up the 
Mississippi, by the several courses thereof, to the mouth of the 
Illinois river, about six leagues, be the same more or less; and 
then up the Illinois river, by the several courses thereof, to 
Chicagou or Garlick creek, about ninety leagues or thereabouts, 
be the same more or less; then nearly a northerly course, in a 
direct line, to a certain place I'emarkable, being the ground on 
which an engagement or battle was fought, about forty or fifty 
years ago, between the Pewaria and Renard Indians, about 
fifty leagues, be the same more or less; thence, by the same 
course, in a direct line, to two remarkable hills close together, 
in the middle of a large prairie or plain, about fourteen leagues, 
be the same more or less ; thence, a north of east course, in a 
direct line, to a remarkable spring, known by the Indians by 
the name of Foggy spring, about fourteen leagues, be the same 



118 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

more or less; thence, the same course, in a direct Une, to a 
great mountain to the northward of the White Buffalo Plain, 
about fifteen leagues, be the same more or less ; thence, nearly 
a southwest course, in a direct line, to the place of beginning, 
about forty leagues, be the same more or less." The purchase 
of these territories was made for the Illinois Land Company,* 
by a certain William Murray, who was then a trader in the 
Illinois country; and from the deed of conveyance it appears 
that the price which the Indians by agreement received was, 
two hundred and fifty blankets, two hundred and sixty strouds, 
three hundred and fifty shirts, one hundred and fifty pairs of 
Stroud and half thick stockings, one hundred and fifty stroud 
breech-clothes, five hundred pounds of gunpowder, four thou- 
sand pounds of lead, one gross of knives, thirty pounds of Ver- 
million, two thousand gun flints, two hundred pounds of brass 
kettles, two hundred pounds of tobacco, three dozen gilt looking 
glasses, one gross gun worms, two gross awls, one gross of fire 
steels, sixteen dozen of gartering, ten thousand pounds of flour, 
five hundred bushels of Indian corn, twelve horses, twelve 
horned cattle, twenty bushels of salt, twenty guns, and five 
shillings in money, f The Indian deed was attested by ten 
persons, and recorded, on the 2d of September, 1773, in the 
office of a notary public at Kaskaskia. 

By a proclamation of the 2lst of March, 1775, Governor 
Dunmore ordered, that all the vacant land of his Majesty 
within the colony of Virginia, *'6e surveyed in districts and 
laid out in lots of from one hundred to one thousand acres,''^ and 
^put up to public sale." 

. *The names of the members of this association were, William Murray, Moses Franks, 
and Jacob Franks, of the city of London, Esquires; David Franks, John Inglis, Bernard 
Gratz, Michael Gratz, Alexander Ross, David Sproat, and James Milligan, all of the- city of 
Philadelphia, in the province of Pennsylvania, merchants ; Moses Franks of the same city, 
Attorney at Law; Andrew Hamilton and William Hamilton, of the same city, gentlemen ; 
Edmund Milne, of the same city, goldsmith and jeweller ; Joseph Simons and Levi Andrew 
Levi, merchants of the town of Lancaster, in the province of Pennsylvania ; Thomas Min- 
shall, esquire, of York county, Pennsylvania; Robert Callender and William Thompson, 
esquires, of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania; John Campbell, merchant, of Pittsburgh, 
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania; and George Castles and James Rumsey, merchants, 
of the Illinois country. 
fLawB U. S. i, 500. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 119 

In the year 1775, after the expedition of Lord Dunmore 
against the Shawanees, Louis Viviat, a merchant of the lUinois 
country, commenced a negotiation with the Piankeshaw In- 
dians for the purchase of two large districts of country lying 
upon the borders of the river Wabash. Viviat acted as the 
agent of an association of individuals which was denominated 
the " Wabash Land Company;" and, at Post Vincennes, on the 
18th day of October, 1775, he obtained from eleven Pianke- 
shaw chiefs, a deed, of which a copy is here inserted: 

"To all people to whom these Presents shall come: — Know 
ye, that we, Tabac, or Tobacco, Montour, La Grand Couette, 
Ouaouaijao, Tabac, junior. La Mouche Noire, or the Black Fly, 
Le Maringouin, or Musquito, Le Petit Castor, or the Little 
Beaver, Kiesquibichias, Grelot, senior, and Grelot, junior, chiefs 
and sachems of the several tribes of the Piankeshaw nation of 
Indians, and being, and effectually representing, all the several 
tribes of the Piankeshaw Indians, send greeting: 

Whereas Louis Viviat, of the Illinois country, merchant^ one 
of the grantees hereinafter named, as well for himself as on the 
parts and behalfs of the several other grantees herein also after 
named, did, at several conferences publicly held with us, the 
said chiefs and sachems, at the towns and villages. Post Saint 
Vincent and Vermillion, treat and confer for the purchase of 
certain tracts of land belonging and appertaining unto us, and 
to the several tribes of our nation, whom we represent: 

And whereas we, the said chiefs and sachems, have delibe- 
rately and maturely considered, for ourselves and our posteri- 
ties, and consulted with the other natives of our several tribes, 
respecting the proposals made as aforesaid to us, the said chiefs 
and sachems, by the said Louis Viviat, on behalf of himself and 
others: And whereas we, the said chiefs and sachems, as well 
as all the other natives of the several tribes of our nation, are 
fully satisfied and contented, for the consideration herein- 
after mentioned, to grant and confirm unto the said Louis 
Viviat, and to the other grantees hereinafter mentioned, the 
several quantities and tracts of lands hereinafter bounded and 
described. 



120 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Now^ know ye, therefore, that we, the said chiefs and sa- 
chems of the Piankeshaw nation aforesaid, in full and public 
council assembled, at the town or village of Post Saint Vincent 
aforesaid, for and in consideration of the sum of five shillings, 
to us in hand paid by the said Louis Viviat, and for and in con- 
sideration of the following goods and merchandise, to us, the 
said Tabac, or Tobacco, Montour, La Grand Couette, Ouaoua- 
ijao, Tabac, junior. La Mouche Noire, or the Black Fly, Le 
Maringouin, or Musquito, Le Petit Castor, or the Little Beaver, 
Kiesquibichias, Grelot, senior, and Grelot, junior, for the use of 
the several tribes of our nation, well and truly deUvered in full 
council aforesaid, that is to say: 

Four hundred Blankets, twenty-two pieces of stroud, two 
hundred and fifty shirts, twelve gross of star gartering, one 
hundred and twenty pieces of ribbon, twenty-four pounds of 
Vermillion, eighteen pairs velvet laced housings, one piece of 
malton, fifty-two fusils, thirty-five dozen large buckhorn-handle 
knives, forty dozen couteau knives, five hundred pounds of 
brass kettles, ten thousand gun flints, six hundred pounds of 
gunpowder, two thousand pounds of lead, four hundred pounds 
of tobacco, forty bushels of salt, three thousand pounds of flour, 
three horses; also, the following quantities of silver wai'e, viz: 
eleven very large armbands, forty wristbands, six whole moons, 
six half-moons, nine ear-wheels, forty-six large crosses, twenty- 
nine hairpipes, sixty pairs of earbobs, twenty dozen small cros- 
ses, twenty dozen nose crosses, and one hundred and ten dozen 
brooches, the receipt whereof we do hereby acknowledge, have 
granted, bargained, sold, aliened, released, enfeoffed, ratified, 
and fully confirmed, and by these Presents do grant, bargain, 
sell, alien, release, enfeoff, ratify, and fully confirm, unto the 
said Louis Viviat, the right honorable John Earl of Dunmore, 
Governor of the colony and dominion of Virginia; the honor- 
able John Murray, son of the said Earl, Moses Franks and 
Jacob Franks, of the city of London, in the kingdom of Great 
Britain, Esquires ; Thomas Johnson, jr.. Esquire, Attorney at 
Law, and John Davidson, merchant, both of the city of Anna- 
polis, in the province of Maryland; WilHam. Ru?sell, Esquire, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 121 

Matthew Ridley, Robert Christie, sen. and Robert Christie, jr., • 
of Baltimore town, in the said province of Maryland, mer- 
chants; Peter Campbell, of Piscataway, in Maryland, mer- 
chant; William Geddes, ot Newtown Chester, in Maryland, 
Esq. collector of his Majesty's Customs; David Franks, mer- 
chant, and Moses Franks, attorney at law, both of the city of 
Philadelphia, in the province of Pennsylvania; William Mur- 
ray, and Daniel Murray, of the Illinois country, merchants; 
Nicholas St. Martin, and Joseph Page, of the same place, gen- 
tlemen ; Francis Perthuis, late of Quebec city, in Canada, but 
now of Post St. Vincent aforesaid, gentlemen; their heirs and 
assigns, equally to be divided, or to his most sacred Majesty 
George the Third, by the grace of God., of Great Britain, 
France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, 
his heirs and successors, for the use, benefit, and behoof, of all 
the said several above named grantees, their heirs and assigns, 
in severalty as aforesaid ; (by whichever of these tenures they 
may most legally hold the same:) the two several tracts or 
parcels of lands, hereinafter bounded and described, viz: 

One tract or parcel of land, situate, lying, and being on both 
sides of the Ouabache river, beginning at the mouth of a rivulet 
called Riviere du Chat, or Cat River, where it empties itself 
into the Ouabache river aforesaid, being about fifty-two leagues 
distant from and above Post St. Vincent aforesaid; thence 
down the Ouabache, by the several courses thereof, to a place 
called Point Coupee, (about twelve leagues above Post St. 
Vincent,) being forty leagues, or thereabouts, in length on the 
said river Ouabache, from the place of beginning, with forty 
leagues in width or breadth on the east side, and thirty leagues 
in breadth or width on the west side, of the Ouabache river 
aforesaid ; to be continued along from the place of beginning 
to Point Coupee aforesaid : And also one other tract or parcel 
of land situated, lying, and being on both sides of the Ouabache 
river aforesaid, beginning from the mouth of White river, where 
it empties itself into the Ouabache river, (about twelve leagues 
below Post St. Vincent,) thence down the Ouabache river, by 
the several courses thereof, until it empties itself into the Ohio 
16 



122 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

river, being from the said Wliite river to the Ohio, fifty-three 
leagues in length, or thereabouts, be the same more or less, 
with forty leagues in width or breadth on the east side, and 
thirty leagues in width or breadth on the west side of the 
Ouabache river aforesaid; (the intermediate space of twenty- 
four leagues, or thereabouts, between Point Coupee and the 
mouth of the White river aforesaid, being reserved for the use 
of the inhabitants of Post St. Vincent aforesaid, with the same 
width or breadth on both sides of the Ouabache river, as is here- 
by granted in the two other several tracts of land above bound- 
ed and described,) the aforesaid two several tracts of land 
hereby bargained and sold, from the first place of beginning to 
the Ohio river, consisting, together, of ninety-three leagues in 
length on the Ouabache river, and, on both sides thereof inclu- 
sive, seventy leagues in width or breadth, and that during its 
whole course as aforementioned, exclusive of, and besides, the 
reservation of twenty-four leagues in length, and seventy 
leagues in width or breadth, for the inhabitants of Post St, 
Vincent, reserved as aforesaid. And the said chiefs and sach- 
ems, for themselves, and for the several other natives of their 
nation, whom they fully and eflfectually represent, and their 
and every of their posterities, do hereby guaranty, engage, 
promise, covenant, and agree, to and with the several above- 
named grantees, their heirs, and assigns, and every of them, 
that they, the said several abovenamed grantees, their heirs 
and assigns, and every of them, shall and may, at all times, 
forever, hereafter have and enjoy the full, free, and undisturbed 
navigation of the said Ouabache river, from its confluence with 
the Ohio to its source ; as well as of all the other several rivers 
running through the lands hereby bargained and sold, any 
thing herein contained to the contrary, or supposed to be, in 
anywise, notwithstanding: And, also, all minerals, ores, trees, 
woods, underwoods, waters, water courses, profits, commodi- 
ties, advantages, rights, liberties, privileges, hereditaments, and 
appurtenances, whatsoever, to the said two several tracts of 
land belonging or in any wise appertaining: And, also, the 
reversion and reversions, remainder and remainders, rents. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 123 

issues, and profits, thereof, and of every part and parcel there- 
of; and all the estate, right, title, interest, use, property, pos- 
session, claim, and demand, of them the said Tabac or Tobacco, 
&c. chiefs and sachems aforesaid, and of all and every other 
person and persons whatsoever, of or belonging to the said 
Piankeshavv nation of Indians, of, into, and out of, the premises 
and every part and parcel thereof; to have and to hold the said 
two several tracts or parcels of land, and all and singular the 
said granted and bargained premises, with the appurtenances, 
unto the said Louis Viviat, &c., their heirs or assigns, forever, 
in severalty, or unto his Majesty, his heirs, and successors, to 
and for the only use, benefit, and behoof, of the said grantees, 
their heirs and assigns, forever, as aforesaid. 

And the said Tabac, or Tobacco, &c. for themselves and for 
all the several tribes of their nation, and all and every other 
nation, or nations, tributaries, and dependents on the said Pian- 
keshaw Indians, and their, and every of their, posterities, the 
said several tracts of land and premises, and every part and 
parcel thereof, against them the said several abovenamed chiefs 
and sachems, and the said Piankeshaw Indians, and their tribu- 
taries and dependents, and all and every of their posterities, 
unto all the severally above named grantees, their heirs, and 
assigns, in severalty, or unto his said Majesty, his heirs, and 
successors, to and for the only use, benefit, and behoof, of the 
said grantees, their heirs, and assigns, in severalty as aforesaid, 
shall and will warrant, and forever defend, by these Presents." 

This deed, which conveyed to the purchasers about thirty- 
seven millions four hundred and ninety-seven thousand and six 
hundred acres, was signed by the grantees, attested by a num- 
ber of the inhabitants of Post Vincennes, and subsequently 
registered in the office of a Notary Public at Kaskaskia.* The 
commencement and progress of the Revolutionary war frustra- 
ted the schemes of the Illinois and the Wabash Land Compa- 

*0n the 29th of April, 1780, the Illinois Land Company and the Wabash Land Com. 
pany were united under the name of "The United Hlinois and Wabash Land Companies." 
The agents of the united companies applied to Congress for a confirmation of a i)art of their 
claim, in the years 1781, 1791, 1797, 1804, and 1810 ; but all thsse applications were re- 
jected. 



124 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

nies, and prevented these associations from planting English 
settlements in the teiritories to the possession of which they 
had acquired only an imperfect claim. 

From 1768 to 1776, Jean Baptiste Racine, alias St. Marie, 
who was the principal officer at Post Vincennes, granted many 
lots of land to French settlers about that village, but none of 
these lots were very large. In the meantime the French pop- 
ulation at post Vincennes, at Ouiatenon and at the Twightwee 
village, enjoyed a state of almost unrestrained freedom. Living 
in the heart of " the wilderness, without taxes, and in friend- 
ship with the Indians, they passed their lives in hunting, fish- 
ing, trading in furs, and raising a few esculents and a little 
corn for their families. Many of them had intermarried with 
the Indians, whose amity was by these ties secured and 
streno-thened." * 

Soon after the Declaration of American Independence, the 
British Lieutenant Governor at Detroit, sent messages and 
proclamations t to' the Indian villages and the French trading 
posts in the country northwest of the river Ohio, for the pur- 
pose of inciting the inhabitants of that region to wage a san- 
guinary war against the settlers on the western frontiers of the 
United States. The British Lieutenant Governor gave stand- 
ing rewards for scalps, but he seldom offered rewards for pris- 
oners. The Continental Congress adopted a less sanguinary 
policy, and offered rewards for prisoners, but none for scalps.J 

In the month of May, 1777, on the appearance of a procla- 
mation issued. by the commandant Edward Abbott, a number 
of the inhabitants of Post Vincennes took the oath of fidelity 
to the government of Great Britain. The form of this oath, as 
it was prescribed by an act of the British Parliament, was as 
follows: — "I, A. B. do sincerely promise and swear that I will 
be faithful and bear true allegiance to his majesty King George, 
and him will defend to the utmost of my power, against all 
traitorous conspiracies, and attempts whatsoever, which shall 
be made against his person, crown and dignity ; and I will do 

*VoIney. 

tProceedings of Council of Virginia, June 18th, 1779. 

JSecret Jour. Congress, i, 46. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 125 

my utmost endeavors to disclose and make known to his ma- 
jesty, his heirs and successors, all treasons and traitorous con- 
spiracies and attempts, which I shall know to be against him 
or any of them ; and all this I do swear, without any equivo- 
cation, mental evasion, or secret reservation ; and renouncing 
all pardons and dispensations from any power or person whom- 
soever, to the contrary. So help me God." 

In the summer of 1777, small war-parties from the north- 
western tribes, roused by the effects of the British policy, jeal- 
ous of the loss of their favorite hunting grounds, and enraged 
at the massacre of a distinguished Shawanee chief,* began to 
assail the settlements and forts which had been established by 
the whites on the southeastern borders of the river Ohio. In 
the western parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky, at 
this era, a fort was not only a place of defence: it was the res- 
idence of a small number of families belonging to the same 
neighborhood; and it consisted of cabins, block-houses, and 
stockades. "A range of cabins commonly formed one side at 
least of the fort. Divisions, or partitions of logs, separated the 
cabins from each other. The walls on the outside were ten or 
twelve feet high ; the slope of the roof being turned wholly 
inward. A very few of these cabins had puncheon floors; the 
greater part were earthen. The block-houses were built at the 

*Late in the spring of 1777, the chiefs Cornstalk, Redhawk, and another Indian visi- 
ted the fort at the mouth of the Great Kanawha river. At this place a Captain Arbuckle 
was the commanding officer. "Cornstalk stated to the Captain, that, with the exception of 
himself, and the tribe to which he belonged, all the nations had joined the English, and 
that, unless protected by the whites, 'they would have to run with the stream.' Captain 
Arbuckle thouglit proper to detain the Cornstalk chief and his two companions as hostages 
for the good conduct of the tribe to which they belonged." Elenipsico, a son of Cornstalk, 
on going to the fort to enquire after his father, was captured and confined. Soon after this 
event, two Indians who had concealed themselves in the woods on the bank of the Kanawha, 
killed a white man as he was returning from hunting. "The dead body was brought over 
the river," and "there was a general cry amongst the men who were present, 'Let us kill 
the Indians in the fort.' Immediately a gang, witli a Captain Hall at their head, went to^ 
the house where the hostages were confined. The old chief Cornstalk rose up to meet 
them at the door, but instantly received seven bullets through his body. His son and his 
other two fellow hostages were instantly despatched witli bullets and tomahawks. Thus 
fell the Shawanee war chief, Cornstalk, wlio, like Logan his companion in arms, was con- 
spicuous for intellectual talent, bravery, and misfortune." — Doddridge, 237 — Drake, book 
v. c. iii, p. 48. 



126 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

angles of the fort. They projected about two feet beyond the 
outer walls of the cabms and stockades. Then' upper stories 
were about eighteen inches every way larger in dimensions 
than the under one — leaving an opening at the commencement 
of the second story to prevent the enemy from making a lodge- 
ment under their walls. In seme forts, instead of block-houses 
the angles of the fort were furnished with bastions. A large 
folding gate, made of thick slabs, nearest the spring, closed the 
fort. The stockades, bastions, cabins, and block-house walls, 
were furnished with port holes at proper heights and distances. 
The whole of the outside was made completely bullet-proof." 
In many instances these forts were made without the aid of a 
single nail or spike of iron, because " such things were not to 
be had. In some places, less exposed, a single block-house, 
with a cabin or two, constituted the whole fort." * 

From 1777 to 1784, the rude fortifications of the western 
settlers were seldom attacked boldly by strong Indian war 
parties. A credible actor f among the adventurous class of 
men who first settled in Kentucky, thus described the Indian 
mode of making war : " The Indians in besieging a place are 
seldom seen in force upon any quarter ; but dispersed, and act- 
ing individually, or in small parties. They conceal themselves 
in the bushes or weeds, or behind trees or stumps of trees; or 
waylay the path, or fields, or other places where their enemies 
resort; and when one or more can be taken down, in their 
opinion, they fire the gun, or let fly the arrow, aimed at the 
mark. If necessary they retreat: if they dare, they advance 
upon their killed, or crippled adversary; and take his scalp, or 
make him prisoner, if possible. They aim to cut off the garri- 
son supplies, by killing the cattle ; and they watch the water- 
ing places, for those who go for that article of primary neces^ 
sity; that they may by these means reduce the place to their 
possession, or destroy its inhabitants in detail. * * * In the 
night they will place themselves near the fort gate ready to 
sacrifice the first person who shall appear in the morning. In 

*Doddridge, 117. 

tCol. J. Floyd Batler's History of Kentucky, 33. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 137 

the day, if there be any cover — such as grass, a bush, a large 
clod of earth, or a stone as big as a bushel — they will avail 
themselves of it to approach the fort, by slipping forward on 
their bellies, within gunshot; and then, whoever appears first, 
gets the fire; while the assailant makes his retreat behind the 
smoke from the gun. At other times they approach the walls 
or palisades with the utmost audacity, and attempt to fire them 
or to beat down the gate. They often make feints to draw out 
the garrison on one side of the fort, and if practicable enter it 
by surprise on the other. And when their stock of provision 
is exhausted, this being an individual affair, they supply them- 
selves by hunting; and again frequently return to the siege, if 
by any means they hope to get a scalp. * * * Such was the 
enemy who infested Kentucky, and with whom the early ad- 
venturers had to contend. In the combat, they were brave; 
in defeat, they were dexterous; in victory they were cruel. 
Neither sex, nor age, nor the prisoner, were exempted from 
their tomahawk or scalping knife.. They saw their perpetual 
enemy taking possession of their hunting ground; to them the 
source of amusement, of supply, and of traffic, and they were 
determined to dispute it to the utmost of their means. * * * 
In the most difficult times the Indians were obliged to retire 
into the woods; sometimes in pursuit of game; sometimes as 
to a place of safety; and, generally by night they withdrew to 
encamp at a distance. In these intervals the white men would 
plough their corn, or gather their crop, or get up their cattle, 
or hunt the deer, the bear, and buffalo, for their own food." 

In the summer of the year 177S, Colonel George Rogers 
Clark, a native of Albemarle county in Virginia, led a memo- 
rable expedition against the ancient French settlements about 
Kaskaskia, and Post Vincennes. With respect to the magni- 
tude of its design, the valor and perseverance with which it 
was carried on, and the momentous results which were produ- 
ced by it, this expedition stands without a parallel in the an- 
nals of the valley of the Mississippi. The particulars * of the 

♦Extracted from the MS. "Memoirs of Gen. George Rogers Clark, composed by Iiim- 
(elf at the united desire of Presidents Jefferson and Madison." 



128 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

most interesting events that occurred in the progress of this 
remarkable enterprise, are here related in the plain style of 
the commander of the expedition. 

"It was at this period," [1775,] says Clark, in his memoir, 
" that I first had thoughts of paying some attention to the 
interests of this country.* The proprietors, Henderson and 
Company, took great pains to ingratiate themselves in the 
favor of the people ; but, too soon for their interest, they began 
to raise on their lands, which caused many to complain. A 
few gentlemen made some attempts to persuade the people to 
pay no attention to them. I plainly saw that they would work 
their own ruin ; as the greatest security they had for the coun- 
try would be that of making it the interest of the people to 
support their claim. * * * I ]eft the country in the fall of 
1775, and returned in the spring following. While in Virginia 
I found there were various opinions respecting Henderson and 
Company's claim. Many thought it was good: others doubted 
whether or not Virginia could, with propriety, have any pre- 
tensions to the country. This was what I wanted to know. 
I immediately fixed on my plans; namely: that of assembling 
the people; getting them to elect Deputies; and sending them 
to treat with the Assembly of Virginia, respecting the condi- 
tion of the country. If valuable conditions were procured, we 
could declare ourselves citizens of the state: otherwise we 
might establish an Independent Government; and, by giving 
away a great part of the lands, and disposing of the remainder 
we would not only gain great numbers of inhabitants, but in a 
good measure protect them. To carry this scheme into eff'ect 
I appointed a general meeting at Harrodstown, on the 6th of 
June, 1776, and stated that something would be proposed to 
the people that very much concerned their interest. The 
reason I had for not publishing what I wished to be done, be- 
fore the day, was that the people should not get into parties 
on the subject: and as every one would wish to know what 
was to be done, there would be a more general meeting. But, 
unfortunately, it was late in the evening of that day before I 

^Kentucky. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 129 

could get to the place. The people had been in some confu- 
sion; but at last concluded that the whole design was to send 
Delegates to the Assembly of Virginia, with a petition praying 
the Assembly to accept them as such; to establish a new coun- 
ty, &;c. The polls were opened, and before I had arrived, 
they had far advanced in the election, and had entered with 
such spirit into it, that I could not get them to change the 
principle, that of Delegates with petitions to that of Deputies 
under the authority of the people. In short, I did not take much 
pains. Mr. Gabriel Jones and myself were elected ; the papers 
were prepared; and in a few days we set out for Williams- 
burgh, in the hope of arriving before the Assembly, then sitting, 
should rise. * * * We proceeded on our journey as far as 
Bottetourt county, and there learned that we were too late; 
for the Assembly had already risen. We were now at a loss, 
for some time, to determine what to do ; but concluded that 
we should wait until the fall session. In the meantime I should 
go to Williamsburgh, and attempt to procure some powder for 
the Kentuckians, and watch their interests. We parted. Mr. 
Jones returned to Holston, to join the forces that were raising 
in order to repel the Cherokee Indians, (as they had lately 
commenced hostilities,) and myself proceeded to the Governor 
of Virginia. 

" Mr. Henry, the Governor, lay sick at his seat in Hanover, 
where I waited on him, and produced my vouchers. He ap- 
peared much disposed to favor the Kentuckians, and wrote by 
me to the Council, on the subject. I attended them. My 
application was for five hundred pounds of powder, to be con- 
veyed to Kentucky, as an immediate supply. After various 
questions and consultations, the Council agreed to furnish the 
supply ; but as we were a detached people, and not yet united 
to the state of Virginia, and uncertain, until the sitting of the 
Assembly, whether we should be, they would only lend us the 
ammunition as friends in distress ; but that I must become 
answerable for it, in case the Assembly should not receive us 
as citizens of the state. I informed them that it was out of 
my power to pay the expense of carriage and guards neces- 
17 



130 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

sary for those supplies — that the British ofRcers on our fron- 
tiers were making use of every effort to engage the Indians in 
the war — that the people might be destroyed for the want of 
this small supply — and that I was in hopes they would con- 
sider these matters, and favor us by sending the ammunition 
at public expense. They replied that they were really dispo- 
sed to do every thing for us in their power, consistent with 
their office — which I believed. After making use of many 
arguments to convince me that even what they proposed was 
a stretch of power, they informed me that ' they could venture 
no farther.' An order was issued to the keeper of the maga- 
zine to deliver me the ammunition. I had for twelve months 
past reflected so much on the various situations of things, res- 
pectmg ourselves and the continent at large, that my resolution 
was formed before I left the Council Chamber. I resolved to 
return the order I had received, and immediately repair to 
Kentucky, knowing that the people would readily fall into my 
first plan ; as what had passed had almost reduced it to a cer- 
tainty of success. I wrote to the Council, and enclosed the 
order, informing them that I had weighed the matter, and 
found that it was out of my power to convey those stores at 
my own expense, such a distance through an enemy's country 
— that I was sorry to find we should have to seek protection 
elsewhere, which I did not doubt of getting — that if a country 
was not worth protecting, it was not worth claiming, &c. 
What passed on the reception of this letter, I cannot tell. It 
was, I suppose, nothing more than what might be expected by 
a set of gentlemen zealous in the welfare of their country, and 
fully apprised of what they might expect to take place in Ken- 
tucky. I was sent for. Being a little prejudiced in favor of 
my mother country, I was willing to meet half way. Orders 
were immediately issued, dated August 23d, 1776, for convey- 
ing those stores to Pittsburgh, and there to await further 
orders from me. 

"Things being amicably settled, I wrote to Kentucky, giv- 
ing information of what I had done; and recommended them 
to send to Pittsburgh, and convey the ammunition by water to 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 131 

their own country. This they never received. I waited until 
the fall session, when I was joined by my colleague, Mr. Jones. 
We laid our papers before the Assembly. They resolved that 
we could not take our seats as members ; but that our business 
should be attended to. Colonel Henderson, one of the pur- 
chasers of the Cherokees, being present, retarded our business. 
Colonel Arthur Campbell, one of the members, being also oppo- 
sed to our having a new county, wished us annexed to the 
county on the frontiers of which we lay, and which he repre- 
sented. This caused it to be late in the session* before we 
got a complete establishment of a county by the name of Ken- 
tucky. * * * * The commandants of the different towns ef 
the. Illinois and Wabash, I knew were busily engaged in exci- 
ting the Indians. Their reduction became my first object; 
expecting, probably, that it might open a field for further ac- 
tion. I sent two young hunters to those places [in the summer 
of 1777] as spies, with proper instructions for their conduct, to 
prevent suspicion. Neither did they, nor any one in Kentucky 
ever know my design until it was ripe for execution.f They 

^December 7, 1776. 

fSilas Deane, who early in 1776 was commissioned by authority of Congress to go to 
France as a political and commercial agent, wrote as follows to the Committee of Secret 
Correspondence : 

"Paris, 1st December, 1776. 
"To effect any considerable loan in Europe is perhaps difficult. * * * It is obvious, that 
let the loan be made when it will, it must have a day fixed for payment, and respect to 
some fund appropriated to that purpose. The relying on future taxes is holding up to the 
people a succession of distresses and burthens which are not to cease even with the war 
itself; whereas, could they have a prospect of paying the expenses of the war at the close 
of it, and enjoying the remainder of their fortunes clear of incumbrance, it must greatly 
encourage and animate both the public and private spirit in pushing it on with vigor. * * * 
The good and wise part, the lovers of lilicrty and human happiness, look forward to the 
establishment of American freedom and independence as an event, which will secure to 
them and theil: descendants an asylum from the efl'ccts and violence of despotic power, daily 
gaining ground in every part of Europe. From these and other considerations on which I 
need not be minute, emigration from Europe will be prodigious, immediately on the estab- 
lishment of American independence. The consequence of this nmst be the rise of the lands 
already settled ; and a demand for new or uncultivated land. On this demand I conceive 
a certain fund may now be fixed. * * * I trace the river Ohio from its junction to its head, 
thence north to Lake Erie, on the south and west of that lake to Fort Detroit, which is in 
the latitude of Boston ; thence a west course to the Blississippi, and return to the place of 
my departure. These three lines, of near one thousand miles each, include an immense 
territory in a fine climate, well watered, and by accounts exceedingly fertile: it is not in 



132 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

returned to Harrodstown with all the information I could 
reasonably have expected. I found from them that they had 
but Uttle expectation of a visit from us ; but that things were 
kept in good order, the militia trained, &c. that they might, 
in case of a visit be prepared — that the greatest pains were 
taken to inflame the minds of the French inhabitants against 
the Americans, notwithstanding they could discover traces of 
affection in some of the inhabitants — that the Indians in that 
quarter were engaged in the war, &c. 

" When I left Kentucky, October 1st, 1777, I plainly saw 
that every eye was turned towards me, as if expecting some 
stroke in their favor. Some doubted my return, expecting I 
would join the army in Virginia. I left them with reluctance, 
promising them that I would certainly return to their assist- 
ance, which I had predetermined. On my arrival at Williams- 
burgh, I remained a considerable time, settling the accounts of 
the Kentucky militia, and making remarks of every thing I 
saw or heard, that could lead me to the knowledge of the 
disposition of those in power. Burgoyne's army having been 
captured, and things seeming to wear a pleasing aspect, on the 
10th December I communicated my design to Governor Henry. 
At first he seemed to be fond of it : but, to detach a party at 
so great a distance, (although the service performed might be 
of great utility,) appeared daring and hazardous, as nothing 
but secrecy could give success to the enterprise. To lay the 
matter before the Assembly, then sitting, would be dangerous, 
as it would soon be known throughout the frontiers ; and pro- 
bably the first prisoner taken by the Indians would give the 
alarm, which would end in the certain destruction of the 
party. He had several private councils, composed of select 
gentlemen. After making every inquiry into my proposed 
plans of operation (and particularly that of a retreat, in case of 
misfortune, across the Mississippi into the Spanish territory,) 

habited by any Europeans of consequence, and the tribes of Indians are inconsiderable, and 
will decrease faster than the lands can possibly be demanded for cultivation. To this I ask 
your attention as a resource amply adequate, under proper regulations, for defraying the 
whole expense of the war, and the sums necessary to be given the Indians in purchase 
of the native right." — Sparks' Dip. Cor. of American Revolution, i, 77. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 133 

the expedition was resolved upon ; and as an encouragement 
to those who would engage in said service, an instrument of 
writing was signjed, wherein those gentlemen promised to use 
their influence to procure from the Assembly three hundred 
acres of land for each in case of success. The Governor and 
Council so warmly engaged in the success of this enterprise, 
that I had very little trouble in getting matters adjusted; and 
on the 2d day of January, 1778, received my instructions, and 
iei,200 for the use of the expedition, with an order on Pitts- 
burgh for boats, ammunition, &c. Finding from the Governor's 
conversation in general to me, on the subject, that he did not 
wish an implicit attention to his instructions should prevent 
my executing any thing that would manifestly tend to the 
good of the public, on the 4th I set forward, clothed with all 
the authority that I wished. I advanced to Major Wm. Smith 
£150 to recruit men on Holston, and to meet me in Kentucky. 
Captain Leonard Helm, of Fauquier, and Captain Joseph Bow- 
man, of Frederick, were to raise each a company, and on the 
[1st?] February arrive at Red Stone Old Fort.* 

"Being now in the country where all arrangements were to 
be made, I appointed Captain Wm. Harrod, and many other 
officers to the recruiting service; and contracted for flour and 
other stores that I wanted. * * * J received information from 
Captain Helm that several gentlemen took pains to counteract 
his interest in recruiting, as no such service was known of by 
the Assembly. Consequently he had to send to the Governor 
to get his conduct ratified. I found, also, opposition to our 
interest in the Pittsburgh country. As the whole was divided 
into violent parties between the Virginians and Pennsylva- 
nians, respecting territory, the idea of men being raised for the 
state of Virginia affected the vulgar of the one party : and, as 
my real instructions were kept concealed, and only an instru- 
ment from the Governor, written designedly for deception, 
was made public, wherein I was authorized to raise men for 
the defence of Kentucky, many gentlemen of both parties con- 
ceived it to be injurious to the public interest to draw off" men 

»Now Brownsville, on the river Monongahela. 



134 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

at so critical a moment for the defence of a few detached in- 
habitants, who had better be removed, &c. These circum- 
stances caused some confusion in the recruiting service. On 
the 29th March, I received a letter from Major Smith, by ex- 
press, informing me that he had raised four companies on Hol- 
ston, to be marched immediately to Kentucky, agreeably to 
his orders; and an express from Kentucky informed me that 
they had gained considerable strength since I left that quarter. 
This information of four companies being raised, with Bow- 
man's and Helm's, which I knew were on their way to join me 
at Red Stone, caused me to be more easy respecting recruits 
than otherwise I should have been. The officers only got such 
as had friends in Kentucky, or those induced by their own 
interest, and desire to see the country. Meeting with several 
disappointments, it was late in May before I could leave the 
Red Stone settlement, with those companies, and a consider- 
able number of families and private adventurers. Taking in 
my stores at Pittsburgh and Wheeling, I proceeded down the 
river with caution. * * * * 



CHAPTER VII. 

On arriving with his forces at the Falls of the Ohio, Colonel 
Clark took possession of an island which contained about 
seven acres. He divided this island among a small number 
of families, for whose protection he constructed some light 
fortifications. 

Of the four companies that were recruited by Major Smith, 
on the Holston, only one had arrived in Kentucky ; and when 
Clark disclosed to the troops his daring designs against Post 
Vincennes and Kaskaskia, he was deserted by the greater part 
of that company. Another obstacle interfered with his plans. 
He found that the settlers of Kentucky, owing to the hostile 
temper of the Indians, could not at that time hazard a material 
diminution of the strength of their forts by joining the expe- 
dition under his command. 

The memoir of Clark proceeds: — "On the [24th] of June, 
1778, we left our little island, and run about a mile up the 
river in order to gain the main channel ; and shot the falls at 
the very moment of the sun being in a great eclipse, which 
caused various conjectures among the superstitious. As I 
knew that spies were kept on the river, below the towns of 
the Illinois, I had resolved to march part of the way by land ; 
and of course left the whole of our baggage, except as much 
as would equip us in the Indian mode. The whole of our 
force, after leaving such as was judged not competent to the 
expected fatigue, consisted only of four companies, command- 
ed by Captains John Montgomery, Joseph Bowman, Leonard 
Helms, and William Harrod. My force being so small to what 
I expected, owing to the various circumstances already men- 
tioned, I found it necessary to alter my plans of operation. 



136 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

As Post Vincennes at. this time was a town of considerable 
force, consisting of near four hundred miUtia, with an Indian 
town adjoining, and great numbers continually in the neigh- 
borhood, and in the scale of Indian affairs of more importance 
than any other, I had thought of attacking it first; but now 
found that I could by no means venture near it. I resolved 
to begin my career in the Illinois, where there was more 
inhabitants, but scattered in different villages, and less danger 
of being immediately overpowered by the Indians: in case of 
necessity we could probably make our retreat to the Spanish 
side of the Mississippi; but if successful, we might pave our 
way to the possession of Post Vincennes. 

" I had fully acquainted myself that the French inhabitants 
in those western settlements had great influence among the 
Indians in general, and were more beloved by them than any 
other Europeans — that their commercial intercourse was uni- 
versal throughout the western and northwestern countries — 
and that the governing interest on the lakes was mostly in the 
hands of the English, who were not much beloved by them. 
These, and many other ideas similar thereto, caused me to 
resolve, if possible, to strengthen myself by such train of con- 
duct, as might probably attach the French inhabitants to our 
interest, and give us influence at a greater distance than the 
country we were aiming for. These were the principles that 
influenced my future conduct; and, fortunately, I had just 
received a letter from Colonel Campbell, dated Pittsburgh, 
informina; me of the contents of the treaties* between France 
and America. As I intended to leave the Ohio at Fort Mas- 
sac, three leagues below the Tennessee, I landed on a small 

*0n the 6th of February, 1778, France acknowledged the independence of the United 
States, and concluded a treaty of amity and commerce, and a treaty of alliance with the 
new Republic. The British ministry considered these acts equivalent to a declaration of 
war by France against Great Britain. The first article of the Treaty of Alliance between 
the United States and France, was fixed in these words ; " Art. I. If war should break 
out between France and Great Britain during the continuance of the present war between 
the United States and England, his Majesty and the United States shall make it a common 
cause, and aid each other mutually with their good offices, their counsels, and their forces, 
according to the exigence of conjunctures, as becomes good and faithful allies." This 
Treaty of Alliance was annulled by an act of Congress, on the 7th of July, 1798. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 137 

island in the mouth of that river, in order to prepare for the 
march. In a few hours after, one John Duft' and a party of 
hunters coming down the river, were brought to by our boats. 
They were men formerly from the states, and assured us of 
their happiness in the adventure. * * * * They had been but 
lately from Kaskaskia, and were able to give us all the intelli- 
gence we wished. They said that Governor Abbott had lately 
left Post Vincennes, and gone to Detroit on some business of 
importance — that Mr. Rochblave commanded at Kaskaskia, 
&c. — that the militia was kept in good order, and spies on the 
Mississippi — and that all hunters, both Indians and others, 
were ordered to keep a good look out for the Rebels — that 
the fort was kept in good order, as an asylum, &c. — but they 
beUeved the whole to proceed more from the fondness of par- 
ade than the expectation of a visit — that, if they received 
timely notice of us, they would collect and give us a warm 
reception, as they v/ere taught to harbor a most horrid idea of 
the barbarity of Rebels, especially the Virginians; but, that if 
we could surprise the place, which they were in hopes we 
might, they made no doubt of our being able to do as we 
pleased — that they hoped to be received as partakers in the 
enterprise, and wished us to put full confidence in them, and 
they would assist the guides in conducting the party. This 
was agreed to, and they proved valuable men. 

" The acquisition to us was great, as I had no intelligence 
from these posts, since the spies I sent twelve months past. 
But no part of their information pleased me more than that of 
the inhabitants viewing us as more savage than their neigh- 
bors, the Indians. I was determined to improve upon this, if 
I was fortunate enough to get them into my possession ; as I 
conceived the greater the shock I could give them at first, the 
more sensibly would they feel my lenity, and become more 
valuable friends. This I conceived to be agreeable to human 
nature, as I had observed it in many instances. Having every 
thing prepared, we moved down to a little gully a small dis- 
tance above Massac, in which we concealed our boats, and 
set out a northwest course. The weather was favorable: in 
18 



138 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

some parts water was scarce, as well as game; of course we 
suffered dri)ught and hunger, but not to excess. On the thh'd 
day John Saunders, our principal guide appeared confused; 
and we soon discovered that he was totally lost, without there 
was some other cause of his present conduct. I asked him 
various questions, and from his answers I could scarcely deter- 
mine what to think of him ; whether or not that he was lost, 
or that he wished to deceive us. * * * The cry of the whole 
detachment was that he was a traitor. He begged that he 
might be suffered to go some distance into a plain that was in 
full view to try to make some discovery whether or not he 
was right. I told him he might go; but that I was suspicious 
of him from his conduct — that from the first day of his being 
employed he always said he knew the way well — that there 
was now a different appearance — that I saw the nature of the 
country was such that a person once acquainted with it, could 
not in a short time forget it — that a few men should go with 
him to prevent his escape — and that if he did not discover 
and take us into the Hunter's Road that led from the east into 
Kaskaskia, which he had frequently described, I would have 
him immediately put to death; which I was determined to 
have done : but after a search of an hour or two he came to a 
place that he knew perfectly ; and we discovered that the poor 
fellow had been, as they call it, bewildered. 

"On the 4th of July, in the evening, we got within a few 
miles of the town, where we lay until near dark, keeping spies 
ahead, after which we commenced our march, and took pos- 
session of a house wherein a large family lived, on the bank of 
the Kaskaskia river, about three quarters of a mile above the 
town. Here we were informed that the people a few days 
before were under arms, but had concluded that the cause of 
the alarm was without foundation ; and that at that time there 
was a great number of men in town, but that the Indians had 
generally left it, and at present all was quiet. We soon pro- 
cured a sufficiency of vessels, the more in ease to convey us 
across the river. * * * * With one of the divisions I marched 
to the Fort, and ordered the other two into different quarters 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 139 

of the town. If I met with no resistance, at a certain signal 
a general shout was to be given, and certain parts were to 
be immediately possessed; and men of each detachment, who 
could speak the French language, were to run through every 
street and proclaim what had happened ; and inform the inhab- 
itants that every person that appeared in the streets would be 
shot down. This disposition had its desired effect. In a very 
little time we had complete possession; and every avenue was 
guarded, to prevent any escape, to give the alarm to the other 
villages in case of opposition. Various orders had been issued 
not worth mentioning. I don't suppose greater silence ever 
reigned among the inhabitants of a place than did at this at 
present : not a person to be seen, not a word to be heard by 
them for some time ; but, designedly, the greatest noise kept 
up by our troops through every quarter of the town, and pat- 
roles continually the whole night round it; as intercepting any 
information was a capital object; and in about two hours the 
whole of the inhabitants were disarmed, and informed that if 
one was taken attempting to make his escape he should be 
immediately put to death." 

When Colonel Clark, by the use of various bloodless means, 
had raised the terror of the French inhabitants to a painful 
height, he surprised them and won their confidence and friend- 
ship, by performing, unexpectedly, several acts of justice and 
generosity. On the morning of the 5th of July, a few of the 
principal men were arrested, and put in irons. Soon after- 
wards, M. Gibault, the priest of the village, accompanied by 
five or six aged citizens waited on Clark, and said that the 
inhabitants expected to be separated, perhaps never to meet 
again, and they begged to be permitted to assemble in their 
church, and there to take leave of each other. Clark mildly 
told the priest that he had nothing to say against his religion ; 
that it was a matter which Americans left for every man to 
settle with his God: that the people might assemble in their 
church, if they would ; but that they must not venture out of 
town. Nearly the whole French population assembled at the 
church. The houses were deserted by all who could leave 



140 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

them; and Clark gave orders to prevent any soldiers from 
entering the vacant buildings. After the close of the meeting 
at the church, a deputation, consisting of M. Gibault and sev- 
eral other persons, waited on Clark, and said " that their pre- 
sent situation was the fate of war, and that they could .submit 
to the loss of their property; but they solicited that they might 
not be separated from their wives and children ; and that some 
clothes and provisions might be allowed for their support." 
Clark feigned surprise at this request, and abruptly exclaimed, 
"Do you mistake us for savages? I am almost certain you do, 
from your language ! Do you think that Americans intend 
to strip women and children, or take the bread out of their 
mouths?" "My countrymen," said Clark, "disdain to make 
war upon helpless innocence. It was to prevent the horrors 
of Indian butchery upon our own wives and children, that we 
have taken arms and penetrated into this remote strong hold 
of British and Indian barbarity ; and not the despicable pros- 
pect of plunder. That now the king of France had united h^s 
powerful arms with those of America, the war would not, in 
all probability, continue long ; but the inhabitants of Kaskaskia 
were at liberty to take which side they pleased, without the 
least danger to either their property or families. Nor would 
their religion be any source of disagreement; as all religions 
were regarded with equal respect in the eye of the American 
law, and that any insult offered it, would be immediately pun- 
ished. And now, to prove my sincerity, you will please inform 
your fellow citizens, that they are quite at liberty to condupt 
themselves as usual, without the least apprehension. I am 
now convinced, from what I have learned since my arrival 
among you, that you have been misinformed, and prejudiced 
against us by British officers ; and your friends who are in con- 
finement shall immediately be released." * In a few minutes 
after the delivery of this speech, the gloom that rested on the 
minds of the inhabitants of Kaskaskia had passed away. The 
news of the treaty of alliance between France and the United 
States, and the influence of the magnanimous conduct of Clark, 



*Clark'» Memoir. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 141 

induced the French villagers to take the oath of allegiance to 
the state of Virginia. Their arms were restored to them, and 
a volunteer company of French militia joined a detachment 
under Captain Bowman, when that officer was despatched to 
take possession of Cahokia. The inhabitants of this small vil- 
lage, on hearing what had taken place at Kaskaskia, readily 
took the oath of allegiance to Virginia. 

The memoir of Clark proceeds: — "Post Vincennes never 
being out of my mind, and from some things that I had learned 
I had some reason to suspect that Mr. Gibault, the priest, was 
inclined to the American interest previous to our arrival in the 
country. He had great influence over the people at this period, 
and Post Vincennes was under his jurisdiction. I made no 
doubt of his integrity to us. I sent for him, and had a long 
conference with him on the subject of Post Vincennes. In 
answer to all my queries, he informed me that he did not 
think it worth my while to cause any military preparation to 
be made at the Falls of the Ohio, for the attack of Post Vin- 
cennes, although the place was strong and a great number of 
Indians in its neighborhood, who, to his knowledge, v>'ere gen- 
erally at war — that Governor Abbott had a few weeks before 
left the place on some business to Detroit — that he expected 
that when the inhabitants were fully acquainted with what 
had passed at the Illinois, and the present happiness of their 
friends, and made fully acquainted with the nature of the war, 
that their sentiments would greatly change — that he knew that 
his appearance there would have great weight, even among 
the savages — that if it was agreeable to me he would take 
this business on himself, and had no doubt of his being able to 
bring that place over to the American interest without my 
being at the trouble of marching against it — that his business 
being altogether spiritual, he wished that another person might 
be charged with the temporal part of the embassy ; but that 
he would privately direct the whole; and he named Doctor 
Lafont as his associate. 

" This was perfectly agreeable to what I had been secretly 
aiming at for some days. The plan was immediately settled, 



142 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

and the two doctors, with their intended retinue, among whom 
I had a spy, set about preparing for their journey ; and set out 
on the 14th of July, with an address to the inhabitants of Post 
Vincennes, authorising them to garrison their own town them- 
selves, which would convince them of the great confidence we 
put in them, &c. All this had its desired effect. Mr. Gibault 
and his party arrived safe, and after their spending a day or 
two in explaining matters to the people, they universally 
acceded to the proposal (except a few emissaries left by Mr. 
Abbott, who immediately left the country,) and went in a 
body to the church, where the oath of allegiance was adminis- 
tered to them in the most solemn manner. An officer was 
elected, the fort immediately [garrisoned,] and the American 
flag displayed to the astonishment of the Indians, and every 
thing settled far beyond our most sanguine hopes. The people 
here immediately began to put on a new face, and to talk in a 
different style, and to act as perfect freemen. With a garrison 
of their own, with the United States at their elbow, their lan- 
guage to the Indians was immediately altered. They began as 
citizens of the United States, and informed the Indians that 
their old father the king of France was come to life again, and 
was mad at them for fighting for the English ; that they would 
advise them to make peace with the Americans as soon as they 
could, otherwise they might expect the land to be very bloody, 
&c. The Indians began to think seriously: throughout the 
country this was now the kind of language they generally got 
from their ancient friends of the Wabash and Illinois. Through 
the means of their correspondence spreading among the nations 
Dur batteries began now to play in a proper channel. Mr. 
Gibault and party, accompanied by several gentlemen of Post 
Vincennes, returned to Kaskaskia, about the first of August, 
with the joyful news. During his absence on this business, 
which caused great anxiety in me, (for without the possession 
of this post all our views would have been blasted,) I was ex- 
ceedingly engaged in regulating things in the Illinois. The 
reduction of these posts was tlie period of the enlistment of our 
troops. I was at a great loss at this time to determine how to 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 143 

act, and how far I might venture to strain my authority. My 
instructions were silent on many important points, as it was 
impossible to foresee the events that would take place. To 
abandon the country, and all the prospects that opened to our 
view in the Indian department at this time, for the want of 
instruction in certain cases, I thought would amount to a 
reflection on government, as having no confidence in me. I 
resolved to usurp all the authority necessary to carry my 
points. I had the greater part of our [troops] re-enlisted on a 
different establishment — commissioned French officers in the 
country to command a company of the young inhabitants — 
established a garrison at Cahokia, commanded by Captain 
Bowman ; and another at Kaskaskia, commanded by Captain 
Williams. Post Vincennes remained in the situation as men- 
tioned. Colonel William Linn, who had accompanied us a 
Volunteer, took charge of a party that was to be discharged on 
their arrival at the Falls, and orders were sent for the removal 
of that post to the main land. Captain John Montgomery was 
despatched to Government with letters. * * * I again turned 
my attention to Post Vincennes. I plainly saw that it would 
be highly necessary to have an American officer at that post.- 
Captain Leonard Helm appeared calculated to answer my 
pm'pose: he was past the meridian of life, and a good deal 
acquainted with the Indian [disposition.] I sent him to com- 
mand at that post ; and also appointed him Agent for Indian 
Affairs in the department of the Wabash. * * * About the 
middle of August he set out to take possession of his new 
command. 

" An Indian chief called the Tobacco's Son, a Piankeshawy 
at this time resided in a village adjoining Post Vincennes. 
This man was called by the Indians ' The Grand Door to the 
Wabash;' and as nothing of consequence was to be under- 
taken by the league on the Wabash without his assent, I dis- 
covered that to win him was an object of signal importance. 
I sent him a spirited compliment by Mr. Gibault: he returned 
it. I now, by Captain Helm, touched him on the same spring 
that I had done the inhabitants, and sent a speech, Avith a belt 



144 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

of wampura ; directing Captain Helm how to manage, if the 
chief was pacifically inclined, or otherwise. The captain 
arrived safe at Post Vincennes, and was received with accla- 
mations by the people. After the usual ceremony was over 
he sent for the Grand Door, and delivered my letter to him. 
After having it read, he informed the captain that he was 
happy to see him, one of the Big Knife Chiefs, in this town — 
it was here that he had joined the English against himj but 
he confessed that he always thought that they looked gloomy: 
that as the contents of the letter was a matter of great moment 
he could not give an answer for some time — that he must 
collect his coansellers on the subject; and was in hopes the 
captain would be patient. In shorty he put on all the courtly 
dignity that he was master of; and Captain Helm, following 
his example, it was several days before this business was finish- 
ed, as the whole proceeding was very ceremonious. At length 
the Captain was invited to the Indian council, and informed 
by the Tobacco that they had maturely considered the case 
in hand, and had got the nature of the war between the Eng- 
lish and us explained to their satisfaction ; that, as we spoke 
the same language and appeared to be the same people, he 
always thought that he was in the dark as to the truth of it: 
but now the sky was cleared up : that he found that the Big 
Knife was in the right — that perhaps if the English conquered 
they would serve them in the same manner that they intended 
to serve us — that his ideas were quite changed — and that he 
would tell all the red people on the Wabash to bloody the 
land no more for the English: he jumped up, struck his breast, 
called himself a man and a warrior, said that he was now a 
Big Knife, and took Captain Helm by the hand. His example 
was followed by all present, and the evening was spent in 
merriment. Thus ended this valuable negotiation and the 
saving of much blood. * * * * In a short time almost the 
whole of the various tribes of the different nations on the 
Wabash, as high as the Ouiatenon, came to Post Vincennes, 
and followed the example of the Grand Door Chief; and as 
expresses were continually passing between Captain Helm 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 145 

and myself the whole time of these treaties, the business was 
settled perfectly to my satisfaction, and greatly to the advan- 
tage of the public. The British interest daily lost ground in 
this quarter, and in a short time our influence reached the 
Indians on the I'iver St. Joseph, and the border of Lake Michi- 
gan. The French gentlemen, at the different posts that we 
now had possession of, engaged warmly in our interest. They 
appeared to vie with each other in promoting the business; 
and through the means of their correspondence, trading among 
the Indians, and otherwise, in a short time the Indians of 
various tribes inhabiting the region of Illinois, came in great 
numbers to Cahokia, in order to make treaties of peace with 
us. From the information they generally got from the French 
gentlemen (whom they implicitly believed,) respecting us, they 
were truly alarmed; and, consequently, we were visited by 
the greater part of them, without any invitation from us: of 
course we had greatly the advantage, in making use of such 
language as suited our [interest.] Those treaties, which com- 
menced about the last of August and continued between three 
and four weeks, were probably conducted in a Avay difterent 
from any other known in America at that time. I had been 
always convinced that our general conduct with the Indians 
was wrong — that inviting them to treaties was considei'ed by 
them in a different manner to what we expected, and imputed, 
by them, to fear — and that giving them great presents con- 
firmed it. I resolved to guard against this, and I took good 
pains to make myself acquainted fully with the French and 
Spanish methods of treating Indians, and with the manners, 
genius, and disposition of the Indians in general. As in this 
quarter they had not yet been spoiled by us, I was resolved 
that they should not be. I began the business fully prepared, 
having copies of the British treaties." 

At the first great council which was opened at Cahokia, an 
Indian chief with a Belt of Peace in his hand, advanced to the 
table at which Colonel Clark was sitting: another chief, bear- 
ing the Sacred Pipe of the tribe, went forward to the table; 
and a third chief then advanced with fire to kindle the pipe. 
19 



146 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

When the pipe was lighted, it was figuratively presented to 
the heavens, then to the earth, and then to all the good spirits: 
thus invoking the heavens, the earth, and all the good spirits, 
to witness what was about to be done. After the observance 
of these forms, the pipe was presented to Clark, and afterwards 
to every person present. An Indian speaker then addressed 
the Indians as follows : " Warriors ! you ought to be thankful 
that the Great Spirit has taken pity on you, and cleared the 
sky, and opened your ears and hearts, so that you may hear 
the truth. We have been deceived by bad birds flying through 
the land; but we will take up the bloody hatchet no more 
against the Big Knife: and we hope, as the Great Spirit has 
brought us together for good, as he is good, that we may be 
received as friends, and that the Belt of Peace may take the 
place of the Bloody Belt," 

" I informed them," says Clark, " that I had paid attention 
^ to what they had said ; and that on the next day I would give 

them an answer, when I hoped the ears and hearts of all people 
would be open to receive the truth w^hich should be spoken 
without deception. I advised them to keep themselves prepar- 
ed for the result of this day, on which, perhaps, their very 
existence as a nation depended, &c., and dismissed them — not 
suffering any of our people to shake hands with them, as peace 
was not yet concluded — telling them it was time enough to 
give the hand when the heart could be given also. They 
replied that ' such sentiments w^ere like men who had but one 
heart, and did not speak with a double tongue.' The next day 
I dehvered them the following speech: 

" Men and warriors ! pay attention to my words : You in- 
formed me yesterday, that the Great Spirit had brought us 
together ; and that you hoped, as he was good, that it would 
be for good. I have also the same hope, and expect that each 
party will strictly adhere to whatever may be agreed upon — 
whether it be peace or war — and henceforward prove our- 
selves worthy of the attention of the Great Spirit. I am a man 
and a warrior: not a counsellor. I carry War in my right 
hand; and in my left, Peace. I am sent by the Great Council 



HISTORICAL i\OTES. 147 

of the Big Knife, and their friends, to take possession of all the 
towns possessed by the English in this country ; and to watch 
the motions of the Red People : to bloody the paths of those 
who attempt to stop the course of the river; but to clear the 
roads from us to those who desire to be in peace — that the 
women and children may walk in them without meeting any 
thing to strike their feet against. I am ordered to call upon 
the Great Fire for warriors enough to darken the land, and 
that the Red People may hear no sound, but of birds who live 
on blood. I know there is a mist before your eyes. I will 
dispel the clouds, that you may clearly see the cause of the 
war between the Big Knife and the English: then you may 
judge, for yourselves, which party is in the right: and if you 
are warriors, as you profess to be, prove it by adhering faith- 
fully to the party which you shall believe to be entitled to 
your friendship; and do not show yourselves to be squaws. 

" The Big Knives are very much like the Red People ; they 
don't know how to make blankets, and powder, and cloth. 
They buy these things from the English, from whom they are 
sprung. They live by making corn, hunting, and trade, as 
you and your neighbors, the French, do. But the Big Knives 
daily getting more numerous, like the trees in the woods, the 
land became poor, and hunting scarce; and having but little 
to trade with, the women began to cry at seeing their children 
naked, and tried to learn how to make clothes for themselves. 
They soon made blankets for their husbands and children; and 
the men learned to make guns and powder. In this way we 
did not want to buy so much from the English. They then 
got mad with us, and sent strong garrisons through our coun- 
try; as you see they have done among you on the lakes, and 
among the French. They would not let our women spin, nor 
our men make powder, nor let us trade with any body else. 
The English said we should buy every thing from them; and, 
since we had got saucy, we should give two bucks for a blanket, 
which we used to get for one : we should do as they pleased : 
and they killed some of our people, to make the rest fear them. 
This is the truth, and the real cause of the war between the 



148 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

English and us, which did not take place for some time after 
this treatment. 

"But our women became cold and hungry, and continued 
to cry. Our young men got lost for want of counsel to put 
them in the right path. The whole land was dark. The old 
men held down their heads for shame; because they could not 
see the sun : and thus there was mourning for many years over 
the land. At last the Great Spirit took pity on us, and kindled 
a Great Counci) Fire, that never goes out, at a place called 
Philadelphia. He then stuck down a post, and put a war tom- 
ahawk by it, and went away. The sun immediately broke out: 
the sky was blue again : and the old men held up their heads, 
and assembled at the lire. They took up the hatchet — sharp- 
ened it — and put it into the hands of our young men — order- 
ing them to strike the English as long as they could find one 
on this side of the great waters. The young men immediately 
struck the war post, and blood was shed. In this way the war 
began ; and the English were driven from one place to another, 
until they got weak; and then they hired you Red People to 
fight for them. The Great Spirit got angry at this, and caused 
your old father, the French King, and other great nations to 
join the Big Knives, and fight with them against all their ene- 
mies. So the Eno;lish have become like deer in the woods; 
and you may see that it is the Great Spirit that has caused 
your waters to be troubled, because you have fought for the 
people he was mad with. If your women and children should 
now cry, you must blame yourselves for it, and not the Big 
Knives. 

"You can now judge who is in the right. I have already 
told you who I am. Here is a Bloody Belt and a White one ; 
take which you please. Behave like men: and don't let your 
being surrounded by the Big Knives, cause you to take up the 
one belt with your hands, while your hearts take up the other. 
If you take the bloody path you shall leave the town in safety, 
and may go and join your friends, the English. We will then 
try, like warriors, who can put the most stumbling blocks in 
each other's way, and keep our clothes longest stained with 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 149 

blood. If, on the other hand, you should take the path of 
peace, and be received as brothers to the Big Knives, with 
their friends, the French, should you then listen to bad birds 
that may be flying through the land, you will no longer deserve 
to be counted as men ; but as creatures with two tongues, that 
ought to be destroyed without listening to any thing you might 
say. As I am convinced you never heard the truth before, I 
do not wish you to answer before you have taken time to 
counsel. We will, therefore, part this evening: and when the 
Great Spirit shall bring us together again, let us speak and 
think like men with but one heart and one tongue." 

" The next day after this Speech, a new fire was kindled 
with more than usual ceremony; an Indian Speaker came 
forward and said, ' They ought to be thankful that the Great 
Spirit had taken pity on them, and opened their ears and their 
hearts to receive the truth. He had paid great attention to 
what the Great Spirit had put into my heart to say to them. 
They believed the whole to be the truth; as the Big Knives 
did not speak hke any other people they had ever heai'd. 
They now saw they had been deceived, and that the English 
had told them lies, and that I had told them the truth — just 
as some of their old men had always told them. They now 
believed that we were in the right: and as the English had 
forts in their country, they might, if they got strong enough, 
want to serve the Red People as they had treated the Big 
Knives. The Red People ought, therefore, to help us; and 
they had, with a cheerful heart, taken up the Belt of Peace, 
and spurned that of War. They were determined to hold the 
former fast: and would have no doubt of our friendship, from 
the manner of our speaking — so diflerent from that of the 
English. They would now call in their warriors, and throw 
the tomahawk into the river, where it could never be found. 
They would suiler no more bad birds to fly through the land, 
disquieting the women and children. They would be careful 
to smooth the roads for their brothers, the Big Knives, when- 
ever they might wish to come and see them. Their friends 
should hear of the good talk I had given them ; and they hoped 



150 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

I would send chiefs among them, with my eyes, to see myself 
that they were men and strictly adhered to all they had said at 
this great fire, which the Great Spirit had kindled at Cahokia, 
for the good of all people who would attend it.' " 

The sacred pipe was again kindled, and presented, figura- 
tively, to the heavens and the earth, and to air the good Spirits 
as witness of what had been done. The Indians and the white 
men then closed the council, by smoking the pipe, and shaking 
hands. With no material variation, either of the forms that 
were observed, or of the speeches that were made at this coun- 
cil, Colonel Clark and his officers, concluded treaties of peace 
with the Piankeshaws, Ouiatenons, Kickapoos, Illinois, Kas- 
kaskias, Peorias, and branches of some other tribes that inhab- 
ited the country between Lake Michigan and the river Missis- 
sippi. 

Governor Henry soon received intelligence of the successful 
progress of the expedition under the command of Clark. The 
French inhabitants of the villages of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and 
Post Vincennes, having taken the oath of allegiance to the 
state of Virginia, the General Assembly of that state, in Octo- 
ber, 177S, passed an act which contained the following provis- 
ions, viz: — All the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia 
"who are already settled or shall hereafter settle on the idestern 
side of the Ohio, shall be included in a distinct county, which 
shall be called Illinois county: and the Governor of this Com- 
monwealth, with the advice of the Council, may appoint a 
County Lieutenant, or Commandant-in-chief in that county, 
during pleasure, who shall appoint and commission so many 
Deputy Commandants, Militia officeni, and Commissaries, as 
he shall think proper in the difterent Districts, during pleasure; 
all of whom, before thev enter into ofiice, shall take the oath 
of fidelity to this Commonwealth, and the oath of office, ac- 
cording to the form of their own religion. And all civil offi- 
cers to which the inhabitants have been accustomed, necessary 
for the preservation of the peace, and the administration of 
justice, shall be chosen by a majority of the citizens in their 
respective Districts, to be convened for that purpose, by the 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 151 

County Lieutenant or Commandant, or his Deputy, and shall 
be commissioned by the said County Lieutenant or Command- 
ant-in-chief." 

Before the provisions of this law were carried into effect, 
Henry Hamilton, the British Lieutenant Governor of Detroit, 
collected an army consisting of about thirty regulars, fifty 
French volunteers, and four hundred Indians. With this force 
he passed down the river Wabash, and took possession of Post 
Vincennes on the 15th of December, 177S. No attempt was 
made by the population to defend the town. Captain Helm * 
was taken and detained as a prisoner, and a number of the 
French inhabitants were disarmed. 

Soon after the reduction of Post Vincennes, the situation of 
Colonel Clark became perilous. Detached parties of hostile 
Indians began to appear in the neighborhood of his forces in 
the Illinois. He ordered Major Bowman to evacuate the fort 
at Cahokia, and join him at Kaskaskia. "I could see," says 
Clark, "but little probability of keeping possession of the coun- 
try; as my number of men was too small to stand a siege, and 
my situation too remote to call for assistance. I made all the 
preparation I possibly could for the attack, and was necessita- 
ted to set fire to some of the houses in town, to clear them out 
of the way. But, on the 29th of January, 1779, in the height 
of the hurry, a Spanish merchant, [Francis Vigo] who had 
been at Post Vincennes, arrived and gave the following intelli- 
gence: That Mr. Hamilton had weakened himself by sending 
his Indians against the frontiers, and to block up the Ohioj 
that he had not more than eighty men in garrison, three pieces 
of cannon, and some swivels mounted; that the hostile Indians 
were to meet at Post Vincennes in the spring, drive us out of 

*Tlie following anecdote is related in Butler's History of Kentucky, p. 80. — "When 
Governor Hamilton entered Vincennes, there were but two Americans there, Capt. Helm,- 
the commandant, and one Henry. The latter had a cannon well charged, and placed in 
the open fort gate, while Helm stood by it with a lighted match in his hand. Wlien Ham- 
ilton and his troops got within hailing distance, the American officer in aloud voice, crietf 
out ' Halt ! ' This stopped the movements of Hamilton, who, in reply, demanded a surren- 
der of the garrison. Helm e.\claimed, with an oath, • No man shall enter until I know the 
terms.' Hamilton answered, ' You shall have the honors of war ;' and then tlic fort was 
surrendered with its garrison of one officer and one private." 



152 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the Illinois, tind attack the Kentucky settlements, in a body, 
joined by their southern friends ; that all the goods were taken 
from the merchants of I'ost Vincennes for the King's use; — 
that the troops under Hamilton were repairing the fort, and 
expected a reinforcement from Detroit in the spring; that 
they appeared to have plenty of all kinds of stores ; that they 
were strict in their discipline ; but, that he did not believe they 
were under much apprehension of a visit ; and believed that, 
if we could get there undiscovered, we might take the place. 
In short, we got every information from this gentleman that 
we could wish for; as he had had good opportunities, and had 
taken great pains to inform himself with a design to give intel- 
ligence.* We now viewed ourselves in a very critical situa- 
tion-^ — in a manner cut oft' from any intercourse between us 
and the United States. We knew that Governor Hamilton, in 
the spring, by a junction of his northern and southern Indians, 
(which he had prepared for,) would be at the head of such a 
force that nothing in this quarter could withstand his arms — 
that Kentucky must immediately fall; and well if the desola^ 
tion would end there. If we could immediately make our way 
good to Kentucky, we were convinced that before we could 
raise a force even sufficient to save that country, it would be 
too late — as all the men in it, joined by the troops we had, 
would not be sufficient; and to get timely succor from the 
interior counties was out of the question. We saw but one 
alternative, which was to attack the enemy in their quarters. 
If we were fortunate, it would save the whole. It otherwise, 
it would be nothing more than what would certainly be the 
consequence if we should not make the attempt. * * * These, 
and many other similar reasons, induced us to resolve to at- 
tempt the enterprise, which met with the approbation of every 
individual belonfrino; to us. 

"Orders were immediately issued for preparations. The 
whole country took fire at the alarm ; and every order was 
executed with cheerfulness by every description of the inhabi- 
tants — preparing provisions, encouraging volunteers, &c. &;c.,- 

*Jefterson's CorreBpondence, i, 451 Clark's MS. Memoir. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 153 

and as we had plenty of stores, every man was completely 
rigged with what he could desire to withstand the coldest 
weather. * * * To convey our artillery and stores, it was 
concluded to send a vessel round by water, so strong that she 
might force her way. A large Mississippi boat was immedi- 
ately purchased, and completely fitted out as a galley, mount- 
ing two four-pounders, and four large swivels.* She was man- 
ned by forty-six men under the command of Captain John 
Rogers. He set sail on the 4th of February, with orders to 
force his way up the Wabash as high as the mouth of White 
River, and to secrete himself until further orders; but if he 
found himself discovered to do the enemy all the damage he 
could, without running too great a risk of losing his vessel; 
and not to leave the river until he was out of hope of our arri- 
val by land; but by all means to conduct himself so as to give 
no suspicion of our approach by land. We had great depend- 
ence on this galley. She was far superior to any thing the 
enemy could fit out without building a vessel: and, at the 
worst, if we were discovered, we could build a number of 
large pirogues, such as they possessed, to attend her, and with 
such a little fleet, perhaps, pester the enemy very much ; and 
if we saw it our interest, force a landing : at any rate, it would 
be sometime before they could be a match for us on the water. 

tF tP TV" vF 

*This vessel was called " The Willing.'* 

20 



CHAPTER Viri. 

" Every thing being ready, on the 5th of Febraary, after 
receiving a lecture and absolution from the priest, we crossed 
the Kaskaskia river with one hundred and seventy men: 
marched about three miles and encamped, where we lay until 
the [7th,] and set out. The weather wet, (but fortunately not 
cold for the season,) and a great part of the plains under water 
several inches deep. It was difficult and very fatiguing march- 
ing. My object was now to keep the men in spirits. I suftered 
them to shoot game on all occasions, and feast on it like Indian 
war-dancers ,- each company by turns inviting the others to 
their feasts; which was the case every night,- as the company 
that was to give the feast was always supplied with horses to 
lay up a sufficient store of wild meat in the course of the day : 
myself and principal officers putting on the woodsmen, shout- 
ing now and then, and running as much through the mud and 
water as any of them. Thus, insensibly, without a murmur, 
were those men led on to the banks of the Little Wabash, 
which we reached on the 13th, through incredible difficulties, 
far surpassing any thing that any of us had ever experienced. 
Frequently the diversions of the night wore off the thoughts 
of the preceding day. We formed a camp on a height which 
we found on the bank of the river, and suffered our troops tc 
amuse themselves. I viewed this sheet of water for some time 
with distrust ; but, accusing myself of doubting, I immediately 
set to work, without holding any consultation about it, or suf- 
fering any body else to do so in my presence: ordered a 
pirogue to be built immediately, and acted as though crossing 
the water would be only a piece of diversion. As but few 
could work at the pirogue, at a time, pains were taken to find 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 155 

<iiversion for the rest, to keep them in high spirits. * * * In 
the evening of the 14th our vessel was finished, manned, and 
sent to explore the drowned lands on the opposite side of the 
Little Wabash, with private instructions what report to make, 
and, if possible to find some spot of dry land. They found 
about half an acre, and marked the trees from thence back to 
the camp, and made a very favorable report. 

"Fortunately, the 15th happened to be a warm moist day, 
for the season. The channel of the river, where we lay, was 
about thirty yards Avide. A scaffold was built on the opposite 
shore (which was about three feet under water,) and our bag- 
gage ferried across, and put on it: our horses swam across and 
received tJieir loads at the scaffold; by which time the troops 
were also brought across, and we began oui" march, through 
the water. * * * 

"By evening we found ourselves encamped on a pretty 
height, in high spirits; each party laughing at the other, in 
consequence of something that had happened in the course 
of this ferrying business, as they called it. A little antic 
drummer oflbrded them great diversion by floating on his 
drum, &e. All this was greatly encouraged ; and they really 
began to think themselves superior to other men, and that 
neither the rivers nor the seasons could stop their .progress. 
Their whole conversation now was concerning what they 
would do when they got about the enemy. They now began 
to view the main Wabash as a creek, and made no doubt but 
such men as they were could find a way to cross it. They 
wound themselves up to such a pitch, that they soon took Post 
Vincennes, divided the spoil, and before bed-time were far 
advanced on their route to Detroit. All this was no doubt 
pleasing to those of us who had more serious thoughts. * * * 
We were now convinced that the whole of the low country 
on the Wabash was drowned, and that the enemy could easily 
get to us, if they discovered us, and wished to risk an action : 
if they did not, we made no doubt of crossing the river by 
some means or other : even if Captain Rogers, with our galley, 
did not get to his station agreeable to his appointment, we 



156 ' HISTORICAL NOTES. 

flattered ourselves that all would be well, and marched on in 
high spirits." 

Here follows an extract from the manuscript journal of 
Major Bowman: 

"February 16th, 1779. — Marched all day through rain and 
water. Crossed the Fur river. Our provisions begin to be 
short. 

"17th. — Marched early: — crossed several runs very deep. 
Sent Mr. Kernedy, our commissary, with three men, to cross 
the river Embarrass, if possible, and proceed to a plantation 
opposite Post Vincennes, in order to steal boats or canoes to 
ferry us across the Wabash. About an hour by sun we got 
near the river Embarrass: — found the country all overflown 
with water. We strove to find the Wabash. Travelled till 
eight o'clock in mud and water, but find no place to encamp 
on. Still keep marching on ; but after some time Mr. Kernedy 
and his party returned. Found it impossible to cross the Em- 
barrass river. We found the water falling from a small spot 
of ground. Staid there the remainder of the night. Drizzly 
and dark weather. 

" ISth. — At day-break heard Governor Hamilton's morning 
gun. Set off, and marched down the river [Embarrass] — saw 
some fine land. About two o'clock came to the bank of the 
Wabash: made rafts for four men to cross and go up to town 
and steal boats. But they spent the day and night in the 
water to no purpose, for there was not one foot of dry land 
to be found. 

"19th. — Captain McCarty's company set to making a ca- 
noe; and at three o'clock the four men returned, after spend- 
ing the night on some logs in the water. The canoe finished. 
Captain McCarty with three of his men embarked in the canoe 
and made the next attempt to steal boats ; but he soon return- 
ed havino; discovered four large fires about a leaiiue distant 
from our camp ; they seemed to be fires of whites and Indians. 
Immediately Colonel Clark sent two men in the canoe down 
to meet the galley, with orders to come on day and night: 
that being our last hope, and [we] starving. Many of the 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 157 ' 

men much cast down — particularly the volunteers. No pro- 
vision of any sort, now two days. Hard fortune. 

"20th. — Camp very quiet; but hungry. Some almost in 
despair. Many of the Creole volunteers talking of returning.* 
Fell to making more canoes, when about twelve o'clock our 
sentry on the river, brought to a boat with five Frenchmen 
from the fort, who told us we were not as yet discovered — 
that the inhabitants were well disposed to us, &c. * * * They 
informed us of two canoes they had seen adrift some distance 
above us. Ordered that Captain Worthington, with a party, 
go in search of them. Returned late with one only. One 
of our men killed a deer, which was brought into camp very 
acceptably. 

"21st. — 'At break of day began to ferry our men over [the 
Wabash] in two canoes, to a small hill called the Mamelle. 
Captain Williams, with two men, went to look for a passage, 
and were discovered by two men in a canoe, but could not 
fetch them to. The whole army being over, we thought to 
get to town that night — so plunged into the water, sometimes 
to the neck, for more than one league, when we stopped on a 
hill of the same name — there being no dry land on any side 
for many leagues. Our pilots say we cannot get along — that 
it is impossible. The whole army being over, we encamped. 
Rain all this day: No provisions." 

The memoir of Clark proceeds: — "This last day's march f 
through the water was far superior to any thing the French- 
men had an idea of: they were backward in speaking — said 
that the nearest land to us was a small league, called the Sugar 
camp, on the bank of the [river?] A canoe was sent off, and 

* "Many of our volunteers began, for tlie first time, to despair. Some tallced of re- 
turning ; but my situation now was such tliat I was past all uneasiness. I Janglied at them 
without persuading or ordering them to desist from any such attempt ; but told them I 
should be glad if they would go out and kill some deer. They went, confused with such 
conduct. My own troops I knew had no idea of abandoning an enterprise for the want 
of provisions, while there was plenty of good horses in their possession : and I knew that, 
without any violence, the volunteers could be detained for a few days, in the course of 
vphich time our fate would be known. I conducted myself in a manner that caused the 

whole to believe that I had no doubt of success, which kept their spirits up." [Clark's 

MS. Memoir. 

tFebruary 21st. 



158 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

returned without finding that we could pass. I went in her 
myself, and sounded the water: found it deep as to my neck. 
I returned with a design to have the men transpoi-ted on board 
the canoes to the Sugar camp, wdiich I knew would spend the 
whole day and ensuing night; as the vessels would pass slowly 
through the bushes. The loss of so much time, to men half 
starved, was a matter of consequence. I would have given 
now a great deal for a day's provision, or for one of our horses. 
I returned but slowly to the troops — giving myself time to 
think. On our arrival, all ran to hear what was the report. 
Every eye was fixed on me. I unfortunately spoke in a seri- 
ous manner to one of the officers: the whole were alarmed 
without knowing what I said. I viewed their confusion for 
about one minute — whispered to those near me to do as I did 
— immediately put some water in my hand, poured on powder, 
blackened my face, gave the war-whoop, and marched into the 
water, without saying a word. The party gazed, and fell in, 
one after another, without saying a word, like a flock of sheep. 
I ordered those near me to begin a favorite song of theirs: it 
soon passed through the line, and the whole went on cheerfully. 
I now intended to have them transported across the deepest 
part of the water ; but when about waist deep one of the men 
informed me that he thought he felt a path. We examined, 
and found it so; and concluded that it kept on the highest 
ground, which it did ; and by taking pains to follow it, we got 
to the Sugar camp, without the least difficulty, where there 
was about half an acre of dry ground, at least not under water, 
where we took up our lodging. The Frenchmen that we had 
taken on the river appeared to be uneasy at our situation. 
They begged that they might be permitted to go in the two 
canoes to town in the night: they said that they would bring 
from their own houses provisions, without a possibility of any 
persons knowing it — that some of our men should go with 
them, as a surety of their good conduct — that it was impos- 
sible we could march from that place till the Avater fell, for the 
plain was too deep to march. Some of the [officers ? ] beheved 
that it might be done. I would not suffer it. I never could 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 159 

well account for this piece of obstinacy, and give satisfactory 
reasons to myself, or any body else, why I denied a proposition 
apparently so easy to execute, and of so much advantage : but 
something seemed to tell me that it should not be done ; and 
it was not done. 

"The most of the weather that we had on this march, was 
moist and warm, for the season. This was the coldest night 
we had. The ice in the morning was from one half to three 
quarters of an inch thick, near the shores, and in still water. 
The moruinc; was the finest we had on our march. A little 
after sunrise I lectured the whole. What I said to them I 
forget ; but it may be easily imagined by a person that could 
possess my aftections for them at that time: — I concluded by 
informing them that passing the plain that was then in full 
view, and reaching the opposite woods, would put an end to 
their fatigue — that in a few hours they would have a sight of 
their long wished for object — and immediately stepped into 
the water without waiting for any reply. A huzza took place. 
As we generally marched through the water in a Hne, before 
the third entered I halted and called to Major Bowman, order- 
ing him to fail in the rear with twenty-five men, and put to 
death any man who refused to march; as we wished to have 
no such person among us. The whole gave a cry of approba- 
tion, and on we went. This was the most trying of all the 
difficulties we had experienced. I generally kept fifteen or 
twenty of the strongest men next myself; and judged from 
my own feelings what must be that of others. Getting about 
the middle of the plain, the water about mid-deep, I found my- 
self sensibly failing ; and as there were no trees nor bushes for 
the men to support themselves by, I feared that many of the 
most weak would be drowned. I ordered the canoes to make 
the land, discharge their loading, and play backwards and for- 
wards with all diligence, and pick up the men ; and to encour- 
age the party, sent some of the strongest men forward, with 
orders, when they got to a certain distance, to pass the word 
back that the water was getting shallow: and w^hen getting 
near the woods, to cry out " Land ! " This stratagem had its 



160 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

desired effect. The men, encouraged by it, exerted themselves 
almost beyond their abilities — the weak holding by the strong- 
er. * * * The water never got shallower, but continued deep- 
ening. Getting to the woods where the men expected land, 
the water was up to my shoulders: but gaining the woods was 
of great consequence : all the low men and the weakly hung 
to the trees, and floated on the old logs, until they were taken 
off by the canoes. The strong and tall got ashore and built 
fires. Many would reach the shore, and fall with their bodies 
half in the water, not being able to support themselves with- 
out it. ...-..._••- . ... ^ .^_ 

"This was a delightful dry spot of ground, of about ten 
acres. We soon found. that the fires answered no purpose; 
but that two strong men taking a weaker one by the arms was 
the only way to recover him — and, being a delightful day, it 
soon did. But fortunately, as if designed by Providence, a 
canoe of Indian squaws and children was coming up to town, 
and took through part of this plain as a nigh way. It was 
discovered by our canoes as they were out after the men. 
Thev save chase and took the Indian canoe, on board of which 
was near half a quarter of a buffalo, some corn, tallow, kettles, 
&c. This was a grand prize, and was invaluable. Broth was 
immediately made and served out to the most weakly, with 
great care : most of the whole got a little ; but a great many 
gave their part to the weakly, jocosely saying something cheer- 
ing to their comrades. This httle refreshment, and fine weath- 
er, by the afternoon gave new fife to the whole. Crossing a 
narrow deep lake in the canoes, and marching some distance, 
we came to a copse of timber called the Warrior's Island. 
We were now in full view of the fort and town, not a shrub 
between us, at about two miles' distance. Every man now 
feasted his eyes, and forgot that he had suffered any thing- 
saying that all that had passed was owing to good policy, and 
nothing but what a man could bear; and that a soldier had no 
right to think, &c. — passing from one extreme to another, 
which is common in such cases. It was now we had to display 
our abilities. The plain between us and the town was not a 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 161 

perfect level. The sunken grounds were covered with water 
full of ducks. We observed several men out on horseback, 
shooting them, within a half mile of us ; and sent out as many 
of our active young Frenchmen to decoy and take one of these 
men prisoner, in such a manner as not to alarm the others : 
which they did. The information we got from this person was 
similar to that which we got from those we took on the river ; 
except that of the British having that evening completed the 
wall of the fort, and ihat there was a good many Indians in 
town. 

"Our situation was now truly critical — no possibiUty of 
retreating in case of defeat — and in full view of a town that 
had at this time upwards of six hundred men in it, troops, 
inhabitants, and Indians. The crew of the galley, though not 
fifty men, would have been now a reinforcement of immense 
magnitude to our little army, (if I may so call it,) but we would 
not think of them. We were now in the situation that I had 
labored to get ourselves in. The idea of being made prisoner 
was foreign to almost every man, as they expected nothing 
but torture from the savages, if they fell into their hands. Our 
fate was now to be determined, probably in a few hours. We 
knew that nothing but the most daring conduct would ensure 
success. I knew that a number of the inhabitants wished us 
well — that many were lukewarm to the interest of either — 
and I also learned that the Grand Chief, the Tobacco's son, 
had, but a few days before, openly declared in council with 
the British, that he was a brother and friend to the Big Knives. 
These were favorable circumstances; and as there was but 
little probability of our remaining until dark undiscovered, I 
determined to beo;in the career immediately, and wrote the 
following placard to the inhabitants: 

"To THE INHABITANTS OP PoST ViNCENNES. 

"Gentlemen: Being now within two miles of your village, 

with my army, determined to take your fort this night, and 

not being willing to surprise you, I take this method to request 

such of you as are true citizens and willing to enjoy the liberty 

21 



162 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

I bring you, to remain still in your houses: — And those, if 
any there be, that are friends to the king, will instantly repair 
to the fort and join the hair-buyer General, and fight like men. 
And if any such as do not go to the fort shall be discovered 
afterwards, they may depend on severe punishment. On the 
contrary, those who are true friends to liberty may depend on 
being well treated ; and I once more request them to keep out 
of the streets. For every one I find in arms on my arrival, I 
shall treat him as an enemy. 

[Signed,] G. R. CLARK." 

" I had various ideas on the supposed results of this letter. 
I knew that it could do us no damage ; but that it would cause 
the lukewarm to be decided, encourage our friends, and aston- 
ish our enemies. * * * We anxiously viewed this messenger 
until he entered the town ; and in a few minutes could discover 
by our glasses, some stir in every street that we could penetrate 
into, and great numbers running or riding out into the com- 
mons, we supposed to view us, which was the case. But what 
surprised us was, that nothing had yet happened that had the 
appearance of the garrison being alarmed — no drum, nor gun. 
We began to suppose that the information we got from our 
prisoners was false ; and that the enemy already knew of us, 
and were prepared. * * * A little before sunset we moved 
and displayed ourselves in full view of the town — crowds 
gazing at us. We were plunging ourselves into certain des- 
truction, or success. There was no mid-way thought of. We 
had but little to say to our men, except inculcating an idea of 
the necessity of obedience, &c. We knew they did not want 
encouraging; and that any thing might be attempted with 
them that was possible for such a number — perfectly cool, 
under proper subordination, pleased with the prospect before 
them, and much attached to their officers. They all declared 
that they were convinced that an implicit obedience to orders 
was the only thing that would ensure success — and hoped 
that no mercy would be shown the person that should violate 
them. Such language as this from soldiers, to persons in our 
situation, must have been exceedingly agreeable. We moved 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 163 

on slowly in full view of the town; but as it was a point of 
some consequence to us to make ourselves appear as formida- 
ble, we, in leaving the covert that we were in, marched and 
counter-marched in such a manner that we appeared numer- 
ous. In raising volunteers in the Illinois, every person that 
set about the business had a set of colors given him, which 
they brought with them, to the amount of ten or twelve pair. 
These were displayed to the best advantage; and as the low 
plain we marched through was not a perfect level, but had 
frequent raisings in it seven or eight feet higher than the com- 
mon level, (which was covered with water,) and as these rais- 
ings generally run in an oblique direction to the town, we took 
the advantage of one of them, marching through the water 
under it, which completely prevented our being numbered: 
but our colors showed considerably above the heights, as they 
were fixed on long poles procured for the purpose, and at a 
distance made no despicable appearance: and as our young 
Frenchmen had, while we lay on the Warrior's Island, decoy- 
ed and taken several fowlers, with their horses, officers were 
mounted on these horses, and rode about more completely to 
deceive the enemy. In this manner we moved, and directed 
our march in such a way as to suffer it to be dark before we 
had advanced more than half way to the town. We then 
suddenly altered our direction, and crossed ponds where they 
could not have suspected us, and about eight o'clock gained 
the heights back of the town. As there was yet no hostile 
appearance we were impatient to have the cause unriddled. 
Lieutenant Bayley was ordered with fourteen men to march 
and fire on the fort. The main body moved in a different 
direction, and took possession of the strongest part of the 
town. 

"The firing now commenced on the fort; but they did not 
believe it was an enemy until one of their men was shot down 
through a port ; as drunken Indians frequently saluted the fort 
after night. The drums now sounded, and the business fairly 
commenced on both sides. Reinforcements were sent to the 
attack of the garrison, while other arrangements were making 



164 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

in town. * * * We now found that the garrison had known 
nothing of us : that having finished the fort that evening, they 
had amused themselves at different games, and had just retired 
before my letter arrived, as it was near roll-call. The placard 
being made public, many of the inhabitants were afraid to 
show themselves out of the houses, for fear of giving offence ; 
and not one dare give information.* Our friends flew to the 
commons and other convenient places to view the pleasing 
sight. This was observed from the garrison, and the reason 
asked, but a satisfactory excuse was given ; and as a part of 
the town lay between our line of march and the garrison, we 
could not be seen by the sentinels on the walls. Captain W. 
Shannon and another being some time before taken prisoners 
by one of their [scouting parties] and that evening brought in, 
the party had discovered at the Sugar camp some signs of us. 
They supposed it to be a party of observation that intended to 
land on the height some distance below the town. Captain 
Lamotte was sent to intercept them. It was at him the people 
said they were looking, when they were asked the reason of 
their unusual stir. Several suspected persons had been taken 
to the garrison: among them was Mr. Moses Henry. Mrs. 
Henry went, under the pretence of carrying him provisions, 
and whispered him the news and what she had seen. Mr. 
Henry conveyed it to the rest of his fellow prisoners, which 
gave them much pleasure, particularly Captain Helm, who 
amused himself very much during the siege, and I believe did 
much damage. 

" Ammunition was scarce with us, as the most of our stores 
had been put on board of the galley. Though her crew was 
but few, such a reinforcement to us at this time would have 
been invaluable in many instances. But, fortunately, at the 
time of its being reported that the whole of the goods in the 
town were to be taken for the king's use, (for which the own- 
ers were to receive bills) Colonel Legras, Major Bosseron, and 
others, had buried the greatest part of their powder and ball. 

* "The town immediately surrendered with joy and assisted at the siege." — [Letter 
(dated Kaskaskia, Illinois, April 29, 1779,) from Col. Clark to the Governor of Virginia. 



HISTORICAL rsIOTES. 165 

This was immediately produced ; and we found ourselves well 
supplied by those gentlemen. 

" The Tobacco's son being in town with a number of war- 
riors, immediately mustered them, and let us know that he 
wished to join us, saying that by the morning he would have 
a hundred men. He received for answer that we thanked him 
for his friendly disposition ; and as we were sufficiently strong 
ourselves, we wished him to desist, and that we would counsel 
on the subject in the morning; and as we knew that there 
were a number of Indians in and near the town that were our 
enemies, some confusion might happen if our men should mix 
in the dark; but hoped that we might be favored with his 
counsel and company during the night — which was agreeable 
to him. 

"The garrison was soon completely surrounded, and the 
firing continued without intermission, (except about fifteen 
minutes a little before day,) until about nine o'clock the fol- 
lowing morning. It was kept up by the whole of the troops, 
— joined by a few of the young men of the town, who got 
permission — except fifty men kept as a reserve. * * * I had 
made myself fully acquainted with the situation of the fort and 
town, and the parts relative to each. The cannon of the gar- 
rison was on the upper floors of strong block-houses at each 
angle of the fort, eleven feet above the surface ; and the ports 
so badly cut that many of our troops lay under the fire of them 
within twenty or thirty yards of the walls. They did no dam- 
age except to the buildings of the town, some of which they 
much shattered: and their musketry, in the dark, employed 
against woodsmen covered by houses, paihngs, ditches, the 
banks of the river, &c., was but of Httle avail, and did no 
injury to us except wounding a man or two. As we could 
not afford to lose men, great care was taken to preserve them 
sufficiently covered, and to keep up a hot fire in order to intim- 
idate the enemy as well as to destroy them. The embrasures 
of their cannon were frequently shut, for our riflemen, finding 
the true direction of them, would pour in such volleys when 
they were opened that the men could not stand to the guns : 



166 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

seven or eight of them in a short time got cut down. Our 
troops would frequently abuse the enemy, in order to aggra- 
vate them to open their ports and fire their cannon, that they 
might have the pleasure of cutting them down with their rifles 
— fifty of which perhaps Avould be levelled the moment the 
port flew open: and I believe that if they had stood at their 
artillery the greater part of them would have been destroyed 
in the course of the night, as the greater part of our men lay 
within thirty yards of the walls ; and in a few hours were cov^ 
ered equally to those within the walls, and much more experi- 
enced in that mode of fighting. * * * Sometimes an irregular 
fire, as hot as possible, was kept up from different directions 
for a few minutes, and then only a continual scattering fire at 
the ports as usual ; and a great noise and laughter immediately 
commenced in different parts of the town, by the reserved 
parties, as if they had only fired on the fort a few minutes for 
amusement; and as if those continually firing at the fort were 
only regularly relieved. Conduct similar to this kept the gar- 
rison constantly alarmed. They did not know what moment 
they might be stormed or [blown up? J as they could plainly 
discover that we had flung up some entrenchments across the 
streets, and appeared to be frequently very busy under the 
bank of the river, which was within thirty feet of the walls. 
The situation of the magazine we well knew. Captain Bow- 
man began some works in order to blow it up, in case our 
artillery should arrive: but as we knew that we were daily 
liable to be overpowered by the numerous bands of Indians on 
the river, in case they had again joined the enemy, ( the cer- 
tainty of which we were unacquainted with,) we resolved to 
lose no time, but to get the fort in our possession as soon as 
possible. If the vessel did not arrive before the ensuing night, 
we resolved to undermine the fort, and fixed on the spot and 
plan of executing this work, which we intended to commence 
the next day. 

"The Indians of different tribes that were inimical had left 
the town and neighborhood. Captain Lamotte continued to 
hover about it, in order, if possible, to make his way good into 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 167 

the fort. Parties attempted in vain to surprise him. A few 
of his party were taken, one of which was Maisonville, a fa- 
mous Indian partizan. Two lads that captured him, tied him 
to a post in the street, and fought from behind him as a breast- 
work — supposing that the enemy would not fire at them for 
fear of killing him, as he would alarm them by his voice. The 
lads were ordered, by an officer who discovered them at their 
amusement, to untie their prisoner, and take him oft' to the 
guard, which they did ; but were so inhuman as to take part 
of his scalp on the way; there happened to him no other 
damage. As almost the whole of the persons who were most 
active in the Department of Detroit, were either in the fort or 
with Captain Lamotte, I got extremely uneasy, for fear that 
he would not fall into our power; knowing that he would go 
off, if he could not get into the fort in the course of the night. 
Finding that, without some unforeseen accident, the fort must 
inevitably be ours, and that a reinforcement of twenty men, 
although considerable to them, would not be of great moment 
to us in the present situation of affairs, and knowing that we 
had weakened them by killing or wounding many of their 
gunners, after some deliberation, we concluded to risk the 
reinforcement in preference of his going again among the 
Indians: the garrison had at least a month's provisions, and if 
they could hold out, in the course of that time he might do us 
much damage. A little before day the troops were withdrawn 
from their positions about the fort, except a few parties of ob- 
servation, and the firing totally ceased. Orders were given, 
in case of Lamotte's approach, not to alarm or fire on him, 
without a certainty of killing or taking the whole. In less than 
a quarter of an hour he passed within ten feet of an officer and 
a party that lay concealed. Ladders were flung over to them, 
and as they mounted them our party shouted ; many of them 
fell from the top of the walls — some within, and others back; 
but as they were not fired on they all got over, much to the 
joy of their friends. But, on considering the matter they must 
have been convinced that it was a scheme of ours, to let them 
in ; and that we were so strong as to care but little about them 



168 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

or the manner of their ^ettinCT into the orarrison. * * * The 
firing immediately commenced on both sides with double vigor; 
and I believe that more noise could not have been made by the 
same number of men: their shouts could not be heard for the 
fire arms; but a continual blaze \vas kept around the garrison, 
without much being done, until about day-break, when our 
troops were drawn off to posts prepared for them, about sixty 
or seventy yards from the fort. A loop-hole then could scarce- 
ly be darkened but a rille ball would pass through it. To have 
stood to their cannon would have destroyed their men, without 
a probability of doing much service. Our situation was nearly 
similar. It would have been imprudent in either party to have 
wasted their men, without some decisive stroke required it. 

" Thus the attack continued, until about nine o'clock on the 
morning of the 24th. Learning that the two prisoners they 
had brought in the day before, had a considerable number of 
letters with them, I supposed it an express that we expected 
about this time, which I knew to be of the greatest moment to 
us, as we had not received one since our arrival in the coun- 
try: and not being fully acquainted with the character of our 
enemy, we were doubtful that those papers might be destroy- 
ed; to prevent which, I sent a flag, [with a letter,] demand- 
ing the garrison." 

The following is a copy of the letter* which was addressed 
by Colonel Clark to Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, on this 
occasion : 

" Sir : In order to save yourself from the impending storm 
that now threatens you, I order you immediately to surrender 
yourself, with all your garrison, stores, &c. &c. For if I am 
obliged to storm, you may depend on such treatment as is 
justly due to a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of any 
kind, or any papers or letters that are in your possession, or 
hurtiuCT one house in town — for, by Heavens! if you do, there 
shall be no mercy shown you. 

[Signed,] " G. R. CLARK." 

*Eitracted from Major Bowman's M3. Journal. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 169 

The British commandant immediately returned the follow- 
ing answer: 

"Lieutenant Governor Hamilton begs leave to acquaint 
Colonel Clark, that he and his garrison are not disposed to be 
awed into any action unworthy British subjects." 

"The firing, then," says Clark, "commenced warmly for a 
considerable time ; and we were obliged to be careful in pre- 
venting our men from exposing themselves too much, as they 
were now much animated — having been refreshed during the 
flag. They frequently mentioned their wishes to storm the 
place, and put an end to the business at once. * * * * The 
firing was heavy through every crack that could be discovered 
in any part of the fort. Several of the garrison got wounded ; 
and no possibility of standing near the embrasures. Towards 
the evening a flag appeared with the following proposals: 

"Lieutenant Governor Hamilton proposes to Colonel Clark 
a truce for three days; during which time he promises there 
shall be no defensive works carried on in the garrison, on con- 
dition that Colonel Clark shall objerve on his part, a like ces- 
sation of any defensive work: that is, he wishes to confer with 
Colonel Clark as soon as can be ; and promises that whatever 
may pass between them two, and another person mutually 
agreed upon to be present, shall remain secret till matters be 
finished, as he wishes, that whatever the result of the confer- 
ence may be, it may tend to the honor and credit of each 
party. If Colonel Clark makes a difficulty of coming into the 
fort, Lieutenant Governor Hamilton will speak to him by the 
gate. [Signed,] HENRY HAMILTON. 

24th February, '79." 

" I was at a great loss to conceive what reason Lieutenant 
Governor Hamilton could have for wishing a truce of three 
days, on such terms as he proposed. Numbers said it was a 
scheme to get me into their possession. I had a different opin- 
ion, and no idea of his possessing such sentiments; as an act 
of that kind would infallibly ruin him. Although we had the 
greatest reason to expect a reinforcement in less than three 
22 



170 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

days that would at once put an end to the siege, I yet did not 
think it prudent to agree to the proposals; and sent the fol- 
lowing answer: 

"Colonel Clark^s compliments to Lieutenant Governor Ham- 
ilton, and begs leave to inform him that he will not agree to 
any terms other than Mr, Hamilton's surrendering himself and 
garrison prisoners at discretion. If Mr. Hamilton is desirous 
of a conference with Colonel Clark, he will meet him at the 
church, with Captain Helm. 

[Signed,] G. R. C, 

February 24th, '79." 

♦' We met at the church, * about eighty yards from the fort 
— Lieutenant Governor Hamilton, Major Hay, Superintendent 
of Indian Affairs, Captain Helm, their prisoner, Major Bow- 
man and myself. The conference began. Hamilton produced 
terms of capitulation, signed, that contained various articles, 
one of which was that the garrison should be surrendered^ on 
their being permitted to go to Pensacola on parole. After 
deliberating on every article, I rejected the whole. He then 
wished that I would make some proposition. I told him that 
I had no other to make, than what I had already made — that 
of his surrendering as prisoners at discretion. I said that his 
troops had behaved with spirit — that they could not suppose 
that they would be worse treated in consequence of it — that 
if he chose to comply with the demand, though hard, perhaps 
the sooner the better — that it was in vain to make any propo- 
sition to me — that he, by this time, must be sensible that the 
garrison would fall — that both of us must [view?] all blood 
spilt for the future by the garrison as murder — that my troops 

*During the conference at the church, some Indian warriors wlio had been sent to the 
Falls of the Ohio, for scalps and prisoners, were discovered on their return, as they entered 
the plains near Post Vincennes. A party of the American troops, commanded by Captain 
Williams, went out to meet them. The Indians, who mistook this detachment for a party 
of their friends, continued to advance "with all tlie parade of successful warriors." "Our 
me*n," says Major Bowman, "killed two on the spot; wounded three; took six prisoners, 
and brought them into town. Two of them proving to be wliites, we released tliera, and 
brought the Indians to the main street, before the fort gate — there tomahawked theni,an'd' 
threw them into tlie river." — [Major Bowman's MS. Journal. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 171 

Avere already impatient, and called aloud for permission to tear 
down and storm the fort : if such a step was taken, many of 
•course would be cut down ; and the result of an enraged body 
of woodsmen breakinsi; in, must be obvious to him: it would 
be out of the power of an American officer to save a single 
man. Various altercation took place for a considerable time. 
Captain Helm attempted to moderate our fixed determination. 
I told him he was a British prisoner, and it was doubtful 
whether or not he could with propriety speak on the subject. 
Hamilton then said that Captain Helm was from that moment 
liberated, and might use his pleasure. I informed the Captain 
that I would not receive him on such terms — that he must 
return to the garrison, and await his fate. I then told Lieut. 
Governor Hamilton that hostilities should not commence until 
five minutes after the drums gave the alarm. We took our 
leave, and parted but a few steps, when Hamilton stopped, 
and politely asked me if I would be so kind as to give him my 
reasons for refusing the garrison on any other terms than those 
I had offered. I told him I had no objections in giving him 
my real reasons, which were simply these: that I knew the 
greater part of the principal Indian partizans of Detroit were 
with him — that I wanted an excuse to put them to death, or 
otherwise treat them, as I thought proper — that the cries of 
the widows and the fatherless on the frontiers, which they had 
occasioned, now required their blood from my hands, and that 
I did not chose to be so timorous as to disobey the absolute 
commands of their authority, which I looked upon to be next 
to divine: that I would rather lose fifty men, than not to em- 
power myself to execute this piece of business with propriety : 
that if he chose to risk the massacre of his garrison for their 
sakes, it was his own pleasure ; and that I might perhaps take 
it into my head to send for some of those widows to see it exe- 
cuted. Major Hay, paying great attention, I had observed a 
kind of distrust in his countenance, which in a great measure 
influenced my conversation during this time. On my conclu- 
ding, " Pray, sir," said he, " who is it that you call Indian 
partizans?" "Sir," I replied, "I take Major Hay to be one of 



172 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the principal." I never saw a man in the moment of execution 
so struck as he appeared to be — pale and trembling, scarcely 
able to stand. Hamilton blushed — and, I observed was much 
affected at his behavior. Major Bowman's countenance suffi- 
ciently explained his disdain for the one and his sorrow for the 
other. * * * Some moments elapsed without a word passing 
on either side. From that moment my resolutions changed 
respecting Hamilton's situation. I told him that we would 
return to our respective posts; that I would reconsider the 
matter, and let him know the result : no offensive measures 
should be taken in the mean time. Agreed to ; and we parted. 
What had passed being made known to our officers, it was 
agreed that we should moderate our resolutions." 

In the course of the afternoon of the 24th, the following 
articles* were signed, and the garrison capitulated: 

"I. — Lieutenant Governor Hamilton engages to deliver up 
to Colonel Clark, Fort Sackville, as it is at present, with all 
the stores, &c. 

II. — The garrison are to deliver themselves as prisoners of 
war ; and march out with their arms and accoutrements, &c. 

III. — The garrison to be delivered up at ten o'clock to- 
morrow. 

IV. — Three days time to be allowed the garrison to settle 
their accounts with the inhabitants and traders of this place. 

V. — The officers of the garrison to be allowed their neces- 
sary baggage, &c. 

Signed at Post St. Vincent, [Vincennes,] 24th Feb'y., 1779. 

Agreed for the following reasons: The remoteness from 
succor; the state and quantity of provisions, &c. ; unanimity 
of officers and men in its expediency ; the honorable terms 
allowed; and lastly, the confidence in a generous enemy. 
[Signed,] HENRY HAMILTON, 

Lt. Gov. and Superintendent." 

"The business being now nearly at an end, troops were 
posted in several strong houses around the garrison, and pat- 
roled during the night to prevent any deception that might be 

♦Major Bowman's MS. Journal. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 173 

attempted. The remainder on duty lay on their arms ; and, 
for the first time for many days past, got some rest. * * * * 
During the siege I gpt only one man wounded : not being able 
to lose many, I made them secure themselves well. Seven 
were badly wounded in the fort, through ports. * * * Almost 
every man had conceived a favorable opinion of Lieutenant 
Governor Hamilton — I believe what affected myself made 
some impression on the whole — and I was happy to find that 
he never deviated, while he stayed with us, from that dignity 
of conduct that became an officer in his situation. The morn- 
ing of the 25th approaching, arrangements were made for re- 
ceiving the garrison; [which consisted of seventy-nine men,] 
and about ten o'clock it was delivered in form; and every 
thing was immediately arranged to the best advantage. * * * 
On the 27th our galley arrived, all safe — the crew much mor- 
tified, although they deserved great credit for their diligence. 
They had on their passage taken up William Myres, express 
from government. The despatches gave much encouragement: 
pur own battalion was to be completed, and an additional one 
^q be expected in the course of the spring." 



CHAPTER IX. 

On the day after the surrender of the British garrison at 
Post Vincennes, Colonel Clark sent a detachment of sixty men 
up the river Wabash to intercept some boats which were laden 
with provisions and goods from Detroit. The detachment, 
under the command of Captain Helm, Major Bosseron, and 
Major Legras, proceeded up the river, in three armed boats, 
about one hundred and twenty miles, when the British boats, 
seven in number, were surprised and captured without firing a 
gun. These boats, which had on board about ten thousand 
pounds worth of goods and provisions, were manned by about 
forty men, among whom was Philip Dejean, a magistrate of 
Detroit. 

" The provisions," says Clark, " were taken for the public, 
and the goods divided among the whole, except about ^SOO 
worth to clothe the troops we expected to receive in a short 
time. This was very agreeable to the soldiers, as I told them 
that the state should p^y them in money their proportions, 
and that they had great plenty of goods. * * * We yet found 
ourselves uneasy. The number of prisoners we had taken, 
added to those of the garrison, was so considerable when com- 
pared to our own numbers, that we were at a loss how to dis- 
pose of them, so as not to interfere with our future operations, 
Detroit opened full in our view. In the fort at that place there 
were not more than eighty men — a great part of them invalids 
— and we were informed that many of the principal inhabit- 
ants were disaffected to the British cause. The Indians on 
our route we knew would now more than ever be cool towards 
the English. * * * We could now augment our forces in this 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 175 

tjuarter to about four hundred men, as near half the inhabitants 
of Post Vincennes would join us. Kentucky, we supposed, 
could immediately furnish two hundred men, as there was a 
certainty of receiving a great addition of settlers in the spring. 
With our own stores, which we had learned were safe on their 
passage, added to those of the British, there would not be a 
single article wanting for an expedition against Detroit. We 
privately resolved to embrace the object that seemed to court 
our acceptance, without delay — giving the enemy no time to 
recover from the blows they had received : but we wished it 
to become the object of the soldiery and the inhabitants before 
we should say any thing about it. It immediately became the 
common topic among them ; and in a few days they had ar- 
ranged things, so that they were, in their imaginations, almost 
ready to march. They were discountenanced in such conver- 
sation, and such measures were taken as tended to show that 
our ideas were foreign from such an attempt; but at the same 
time we were taking every step to pave our way. 

" The quantity of public goods brought from Detroit added 
to the whole of those belonging to the traders of Post Vin- 
cennes, that had been taken, was ver}^ considerable. The 
whole was divided among the soldiery, except some Indian 
medals that were kept, in order to be altered for public use. 
The officers received nothing, except a few articles of clothing 
that they stood in need of. The soldiers got almost rich. 
Others envied their good fortune, and wished that some enter- 
prise might be undertaken, to enable them to perform some 
exploit. Detroit was their object. The clamor had now got 
to a great height : to silence it, and to answer other purposes, 
they were told that an army was to march the ensuing summer 
from Pittsburgh to take possession of Detroit. * * * 

On the 7th of March, Captains Williams and Rogers set 
Out by water with a party of twenty-five men, to conduct the 
British officers to Kentucky ; and, farther to weaken the pris- 
oners, eighteen privates were also sent. After their arrival at 
the Falls of the Ohio, Captain Rogers had instructions to 
superintend their route to Williamsburgh, to furnish them 



176 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

with all necessary supplies on their way, and to await the 
orders of the Governor.* 

" Poor Myres, the express, who set out on the 15th, got 
killed on his passage, and his packet fell into the hands of the 
enemy ; but I had been so much on my guard that there was 
not a sentence in it that could be of any disadvantage to us 
for the enemy to know: and there were private letters from 
soldiers to their friends, designedly wrote to deceive in case of 
such accidents. This was customary with us as our expresses 
were frequently surprised. I sent a second despatch to the 
Governor, giving him a short but full account of what had 
passed, and our views. I sent letters to the commandant of 
Kentucky, directing him to give me a certain but private ac- 
count of the number of men he could furnish in June." 

Early in the month of March " I laid before the officers my 
plans for the reduction of Detroit, and explained the almost 
certainty of success, and the probability of keeping possession 
of it until we could receive succor from the states. If we 
awaited the arrival of the troops mentioned in the despatches 
from the Governor of Virginia, the enemy in the meantime 
might get strengthened; and probably we might not be so 
capable of carrying the [post] with the expected reinforce- 
ment, as we should be with our present force, in case we were 
to make the attempt at this time : and in case we should be 
disappointed in the promised reinforcement, we might not be 
able to effect it at all. There were various arguments made 
use of on this delicate point. Every person seemed anxious to 
improve the present opportunity; but prudence appeared to 
forbid the execution, and induced us to wait for the reinforce- 
ment. The arguments that appeared to have the greatest 
■Weight were, that with such a force we might march boldly 

' *0n the advice of his Council, the Governor of Virginia, on the 18th of June, 1779, 
brdered Hamilton, Lnmotte, and Dejean, to be "put into irons, confined in the dungeon of 
the public jail, debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper, and excluded all converse except 
with their keeper." On the 29th of September, 1779, an order was issued by the Gov. 
fernor to send the said prisoners to Hanover Court House, there to remain, on their parole, 
Within certain reasonable limits. Orders were also issued to send Major John Hay, under 
|)arolCj to the same place. — [Jetferson's Correspondence, i, 455. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 177 

through the Indian nations — that it would make a great [im- 
pression] on them, as well as the inhabitants of Detroit, and 
have a better effect than if we were now to slip off, and take 
the place with so small a force — ^that the British would not 
wish to weaken Niagara by sending any considerable rein- 
forcements to Detroit — that it was more difficult for that post 
to get succor from Canada, than it was for us to receive it 
from the states — that the garrison at Detroit would not be 
able to get a reinforcement in time to prevent our executing 
our designs, as we might with propriety expect ours in a few 
weeks: — In short, the enterprise was deferred until the — of 
June, when our troops were to rendezvous at Post Vincennes. 
In the meantime every preparation was to be made, procuring 
provisions, &c. — and, to blind our designs, the whole, except 
a small garrison should march immediately to the Illinois ; and 
orders were sent to Kentucky to prepare themselves to meet 
at the appointed time. This was now our proposed plan, and 
directed our operations during the spring. 

"A company of volunteers from Detroit, mostly composed 
of young men, was drawn up; and when expecting to be sent 
off into a strange country, they were told that we were happy 
to learn that many of them were torn from their fathers and 
mothers and forced on this expedition : others, ignorant of the 
true cause in contest, had engaged from a principle that actu- 
ates a great number of men, that of being fond of enterprise ; 
but that they now had a good opportunity to make themselves 
fully acquainted with the nature of the war, which they might 
explain to their friends — and that as we knew that sending 
them to the states, where they would be confined in a jail pro- 
bably for the course of the war, would make a great number 
of our friends at Detroit unhappy, we had thought proper, for 
their sakes, to suffer them to return home, &c. A great deal 
more was said to them on this subject. On the whole they 
were discharged on taking an oath not to bear arms against 
America until exchanged. They received an order for their 
arms, boats, and provisions, to return with ; the boats were to 
be sold and divided among them when they got home/ In a 
23 



178 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

few days they set out; and as we had spies who went among 
them as traders, we learned that they made great havoc to the 
British interest, on their return to Detroit — publicly saying 
that they had taken an oath not to fight against Americans, 
but they had not sworn not to fight for them, &c. — and mat- 
ters were carried to a such a height that the commanding offi- 
cer thought it prudent not to take notice of any thing that was 
said or done. Mrs. McComb, who kept a noted boarding 
house, I understand, had the assurance to show him the stores 
she had provided for the Americans. This was the completion 
of our design in suffering the company to return. Many others 
that we could trust, we suflfered to enlist m the cause ; so that 
our charge of prisoners was much reduced. 

"I had yet sent no message to the Indian tribes, wishing to 
wait to see what effect all this would have on them. The 
Piankeshaws, being of the tribe of the Tobacco's son, were 
always familiar with us. Part of the behavior of this grandee, 
as he viewed himself, was diverting enough. He had conceived 
such an inviolable attachment for Captain Helm, that on find- 
ing that the Captain was a prisoner, and not being as yet able 
to release him, he declared himself a prisoner also. He joined 
his brother, as he called Captain Helm, and continually kept 
with him, condoling their condition as prisoners in great dis- 
tress — at the same time wanting nothing that was in the 
power of the gariison to furnish. Lieutenant Governor Ham- 
ilton knowing the influence of Tobacco's son, was extremely 
jealous of his behavior, and took every pains to gain him by 
presents, &c. When any thing was presented to him, his 
reply would be that it would serve him and his brother to live 
on. He would not enter into council, saying that he was a 
prisoner and had nothing to say; but was in hopes that when 
the grass grew his brother, the Big Knife, would release him; 
and when he was free, he could talk, &c. In short, they could 
do nothing with him ; and the moment he heard of our arrival, 
he paraded all the warriors he had in his village (joining Post 
Vincennes,) and was ready to fall in and attack the fort ; but 
for reasons formerly mentioned, he was desired to desist. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 179 

" On the 15th of March, 1779, a party of upper Pianke- 
shaws, and some Pottawattamie and Miami chiefs made their 
appearance, making great protestations of their attachment to 
the Americans; begged that tiiey might be taken under the 
cover of our wings, and that the roads through the lands might 
be made straight, and all the stumbling blocks removed; and 
that their friends, the neisihborincr nations, miglit also be con- 
sidered in the same point of view. I well knew from what 
principle all this sprung; and, as I had Detroit now in my eye, 
it was my business to make a straight and clear road for my- 
self to walk, without thinking much of their interest, or any 
.thing else but that of opening the road in earnest, by flattery, 
deception, or any other means that occurred. I told them 
that I was glad to see them, and was happy to learn that most 
of the nations on the Wabash and Omi [Maumee] rivers had 
proved themselves to be men, by adhering to the treaties they 
had made with the Big Knife last fall, except a few weak 
minds that had been deluded by the English to come to war — 
that I did not know exactly who they were, nor much cared ; 
but understood they were a band chiefly composed of almost 
all the tribes — such people were to be found among all nations 
— but as these kind of people, who had the meanness to sell 
their country for a shirt, were not worthy of the attention of 
warriors, we would say no more about them, and think on 
subjects more becoming us. I told them that I should let the 
great Council of Americans know of their good behavior, and 
knew that they would be counted as friends of the Big Knife, 
and would be always under their protection, and their countiy 
secured to them, as the Big Knife had land enough, and did 
not want any more: — but, if ever they broke their faith, the 
Big Knife would never again trust them, as they never hold 
friendship with a people that they find with two hearts : — that 
they were witnesses of the calamities the British had brought 
on their countries by their false assertions, and their presents, 
which was a proof of their weakness ; that they saw that all 
their boasted valor was like to fall to the ground, and they 
would not come out of the fort, the other day, to try to save 



180 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the Indians that they flattered to war, and suffered to be killed 
in their sight: and, as the nature of the war had been fully 
explained to them last fall, they might clearly see that the 
Great Spirit would not suffer it to be otherwise — that it was 
not only the case on the Wabash, but every where else — that 
thev might be assured that the nations that would continue 
obstinately to believe the English, would be driven out of the 
land, and their countries given to those who were more steady 
friends to the Americans. I told them that I expected, for the 
future, that if any of my people should be going to war through 
their country, that they would be protected, which should be 
always the case with their people when among us ; and that 
mutual confidence should continue to exist, &c. &c. They 
replied, that from what they had seen and heard, they were 
convinced that the Master of Life had a hand in all things — 
that their people would rejoice on their return — that they 
would take pains to diffuse what they had heard, through all 
the nations, and made no doubt of the good effect of it, &c. — 
and after a long speech in the Indian style, calling all the 
Spirits to be witnesses, they concluded by renewing the chain 
of friendship, smoking the sacred pipe, exchanging belts, &c. 
and, I believe, went off really well pleased — (but not able to 
fathom the bottom of all they had heard, the greatest part of 
which was mere political lies) — for, the ensuing summer. Cap- 
tain Shelby, with his own company only, lay for a considerable 
time in the Wea town, in the heart of their country, and was 
treated in the most friendly manner by all the natives that he 
saw; and was frequently invited by them to join and plunder 
what was called "the King's Pasture at Detroit." What they 
meant was to go and steal horses from that settlement. 

" Things being now pretty well arranged, Lieutenant Rich- 
ard Brashear was appointed to the command of the garrison, 
which consisted of Lieutenants Bayley and Chapline, with 
forty picked men — Captain Leonard Helm, commandant of the 
town, superintendent of Indian Affairs, &c. — -Moses Henry, 
Indian Agent, and Patrick Kennedy, Quartermaster. Giving 
necessary instruction to all persons that I left in office, on the 



HISTORICAL NOTES. ISl 

20th of March I set sail on board of our galley, which was 
now made perfectly complete, attended by five armed boats, 
and seventy men. The waters being very high, we soon 
reached the Mississippi; and the winds favoring us, in a few 
days we arrived safely at Kaskaskia, to the great joy of our 
new friends, Captain George and company waiting to receive 
us. 

" On our passage up the Mississippi we had observed several 
Indian camps, which appeared to us fresh, but had been left in 
great confusion. This we could not account for, but were now 
informed that a few days past a party of Delaware warriors 
came to town, and appeared to be very impudent — that in 
the evening, having been drinking, they said they had come 
there for scalps and would have them, and flashed a gun at 
the breast of an American woman present. A sergeant and 
party that moment passing by the house, saw the confusion 
and rushed in: the Indians immediately fled: the sergeant 
pursued and killed [ ] of them. A party was instantly 
sent to rout their camps on the river. This was executed the 
day before we came up, which was the sign we had seen. 

" Part of the Delaware nation had settled a town at the forks 
of the White River, and hunted in the countries on the Ohio 
and Mississippi. They had, on our first arrival, hatched up a 
kind of peace with us ; but I always knew they were for open 
war; but never before could get a proper excuse for extermi- 
nating them from the country, which I knew they would be 
loth to leave, and that the other Indians wished them away, 
as they were great hunters and killed up their game. A few 
days after this. Captain Helm informed me, by express, that a 
party of traders who were going by land to the falls, were 
killed and plundered by the Delawares of White River — and 
that it appeared that their designs were altogether hostile, as 
they had received a belt from the great council of their nation. 
I was sorry for the loss of our men ; otherwise pleased at what 
had happened ; as it would give me an opportunity of showing 
the other Indians the horrid fate of those who would dare to 
make war on the Big Knife — and to excel thern in barbarity 



182 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

I knew was, and is, the only way to make war and gain a 
name among the Indians. I immediately sent orders to Post 
Vincennes to make war on the Delawares — to use every 
means in their power to destroy them — to show no kind of 
mercy to the men; but to spare the women and children. 
This order was executed without delay; their camps were 
attacked in every quarter where they could be found — many 
fell, and others were brought to Post Vincennes and put to 
death — the women and children secured, &c. They immedi- 
ately applied for reconciliation; but were informed that I had 
ordered the war * * * and that they dare not lay down the 
tomahawk without permission from me: but that if the Indians 
were agreed, no more blood should be spilt, until an express 
should go to Kaskaskia, which was immediately sent. I refu- 
sed to make peace with the Delawares, and let them know 
that we never trusted those who had once violated their faith; 
but that if they had a mind to be quiet, they might ; and if 
they could get any of the neighboring Indians to be security 
for their good behavior, I would let them alone; but that I 
cared very little about it, &c. — privately directing Captain 
Helm how to manage. 

"A council was called of all the Indians in the neighbor- 
hood; my answer was made public; the Piankeshaws took on 
themselves to answer for the future good conduct of the Dela- 
wares; and the Tobacco's son, in a long speech, informed ihem 
of the baseness of their conduct, and how richly they had de- 
served the severe blow they had met with — that he had given 
them permission to settle that country, but not kill his friends 
— that they now saw the Big Knife had refused to make peace 
with them ; but that he had become surety for their good con- 
duct, and that they might go and mirtd their hunting — and 
that if they ever did any more mischief — pointing to the sa^ 
cred bow that he held in his hand — which was as much as to 
say that he himself would for the future chastise them. Thus 
ended the war between us and the Delawares in this quarter 
much to our advantage ; as the nations about said that we were 
as brave as the Indians, and not afraid to put an enemy to death. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 183 

" June being the time for the rendezvous at Post Vincennes, 
every exertion was made in procuring provisions of every spe- 
cies, and making other preparations. I received an express 
from Kentucky, wherein Colonel [John] Bowman informed 
me that he could furnish three hundred good men. We were 
now going on in high spirits, and daily expecting troops down 

the Tennessee; when, on the , we were surprised at the 

arrival of Colonel Montgomery with one hundred and fifty 
men only — which was all we had a right to expect from that 
quarter in a short time, as the recruiting business went on but 
slowly ; and, for the first time, we learned the fall of our paper 
money. Things immediately put on a different appearance. 
We now lamented that we did not march from Post Vin- 
cennes to Detroit; but as we had a prospect of a considerable 
reinforcement from Kentucky, we yet flattered ourselves that 
something might be done : at least we might manoeuvre in such 
a manner as to keep the enemy in hot water, and in suspense, 
and prevent their doing our frontiers much damage. We went 
on with procuring supplies,* and did not yet lose sight of our 
object; and, in order to feel the pulse of the enemy, I detach- 
ed Major , who had lately joined us, and a company of 

volunteers, up the Illinois river — under the pretence of visit- 
ing our friends; he was instructed to cross the country, and 
call at the Wea towns, and then proceed to Post Vincennes, 
making his observations on the route. This we expected would 
perfectly cover our designs; and, if we saw it prudent, we 
might on his return proceed. Early in June Colonel Mont- 
gomery was despatched by water with the whole of our stores: 

* " There is one circumstance very distressing, that of our money's being discredited, 
to all intents and purposes, by the great number of traders who come here in my absence, 
each outbidding the other, giving prices unknown in this country by five hundred percent., 
by which the people conceived it to be of no value, and both French and Spaniards refused 
to take a farthing of it. Provision is three times the price it was two months past, and to 
be got by no other means than my own bonds, goods, or force. Several merchants are now 
advancing considerable sums of their own property, rather than the service should suffer, 
by which I am sensible they must lose greatly, unless some method is taken to raise the 
credit of our coin, or a fund to be sent to Orleans, for the payment of the expenses of this 
place."— [Letter, dated Kaskaskia, April 29, 1779, from Col. G. R. Clark to the Governor 
of Virginia.— Jefferson's Correspondence, I, 454. 



184 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Major [Joseph] Bowman marched the remainder of our troops 
by land. Myself, with a party of horse, reached Post Vin- 
cennes in four days, . where the whole safely arrived in a short 
time after. 

"Instead of three hundred men from Kentucky, there ap- 
peared about thirty volunteers, commanded by Capt. McGary. 
The loss of the expedition was too obvious to hesitate about it. 
Colonel [John] Bowman had turned his attention against the 
Shawanees towns, and got repulsed, and his men discouraged. 

" The business, from the first had been so conducted as to 
make no disadvantageous impression on the enemy, in case of 
a disappointment — as they could never know whether we 
really had a design on Detroit, or only a finesse to amuse 
them, which latter would appear probable. Arranging things 
to the best advantage was now my principal study. The troops 
were divided between Post Vincennes, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, 
and the Falls of Ohio. Colonel Montgomery was appointed to 
the command of the Illinois; Major Bowman to superintend 
the recruiting business ; a number of officers were appointed 
to that service; and myself to take up my quarters at the falls, 
as the most convenient spot to have an eye over the whole." 

Thus closes the detail of Colonel Clark's proceedings at Post 
Vincennes. 



CHAPTER X. 

During the years 1779 and 1780, many causes contributed 
to attract a great number of emigrants from the interior of 
Virginia, and from other states, to the fertile district of Ken- 
tucky.* Among these causes it is proper to reckon the achieve- 
ments of Colonel Clark in the west, the temporary triumph of 
the British arms in some of the southern states, and the muni- 
ficent spirit in which the government of Virginia invited ad- 
venturous families to take possession of the rich unappropriated 
lands which it claimed in the regions west of the Allegheny 
mountains. The danger which surrounded the first English 
settlers in these regions began to abate. The ancient French 
inhabitants of the new county of Illinois had taken the oath of 
allegiance to the state of Virginia. In July, 1778, the Con- 
gress of the United States directed Brigadier General Mcintosh 
to collect at Pittsburgh a force of fifteen hundred men for the 
defence of the western frontiers: and on the 17th of September, 
1778, a treaty of peace, friendship, and alliance was concluded, 
at Fort Pitt, between commissioners in behalf of the United 
States, and the chief men and deputies of the Delaware nation 
of Indians.^ 

In the spring of 1779, Colonel John Todd, bearing the com- 
mission of County Lieutenant for the county of Illinois, visited 
Post Vincennes and Kaskaskia for the purpose of organizing a 
temporary government according to the provisions of the act 
of the General Assembly of Virginia, of October, 1778. On 

♦Three hundred large family boats arrived at the Falls of the Ohio, during the spring 
6f 1780 — [Butler's History of Kentucky, 99. 
tLaws United States, i. 302. 

24 



186 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the 15th of June, 1779, Mr. Todd issued the following procla- 
mation : 

*^ Illinois [count!/,'] to wit: — ■ Whereas, from the fertiUty and 
beautiful situation of the lands bordering upon the Mississippi, 
Ohio, Illinois, and Wabash rivers, the taking up the usual 
quantity of land heretofore allowed for a settlement by the 
government of Virginia, would injure both the strength and 
commerce of this country — I do, therefore, issue this procla- 
mation, strictly enjoining all persons whatsoever from making, 
any new settlements upon the flat lands of the said rivers, or 
within one league of said lands, unless in manner and form of 
settlements as heretofore made by the French inhabitants,, 
until further orders herein given. And in order that all the 
claims to lands in said county may be fully known, and some 
method provided for perpetuating by record the just claims, 
every inhabitant is required, as soon as conveniently may be^. 
to lay before the person in each district appointed for that pur- 
pose, a memorandum of his or her land, with copies of all their 
vouchers ; and where vouchers have never been given, or are 
lost, such depositions or certificates as will tend to support 
their claims: — the memorandum to mention the quantity of 
land, to whom originally granted, and when — deducing the 
title through the various occupants to the present possessor. 

The number of adventurers who will shortly overrun this 
country renders the above method necessary as well to ascer- 
tain the vacant lands as to guard against trespasses which will 
probably be committed on lands not of record. 

Given under my hand and seal at Kaskaskia, the 15th of 
June, in the third year of the Commonwealth, 1779. 

JOHN TODD, Jr." 

For the preservation of peace and the administration of jus- 
tice a court of civil and criminal jurisdiction was instituted at 
Post Vincennes, in June, 1779. The court was composed of 
several magistrates. Colonel J. M. P. Legras, having been 
appointed commandant of the town, acted as president of the 
court, and in some cases exercised a controlling influence over 
its proceedings. Adopting in some measure the usages and 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 187 

customs of the early French commandants, the magistrates of 
the Court of Post Vincennes began to grant or concede tracts 
of land to the French and American inhabitants of the town, 
and to different civil and military officers of the country. In- 
deed it appears that the court assumed the power of granting 
lands to every applicant. Before the year 1783, about twenty- 
six thousand acres of land were granted to ditTerent individuals . 
From 17S3 to 1787, when the practice was stopped by General 
Harmar, the grants amounted to twenty-two thousand acres.* 
They were given in tracts varying in quantities from four hun- 
dred acres to the size of a house lot. Besides these small con- 
cessions there were some grants of tracts several leagues square. 
The commandant and magistrates, after having exercised this 
power for some time began to believe that they had the right 
to dispose of all that large tract of land which, in 1742, had 
been granted by the Piankeshaw Indians, for the use of the 
French inhabitants of Post Vincennes. " Accordingly an ar- 
rangement was made, by which the whole country to which 
the Indian title was supposed to be extinguished, was divided 
between the members of the court, and orders to that effect 
entered on their journal: each member absenting himself from 
the court on the day that the order was to be made in his favor, 
so that it might appear to be the act of his fellows only." f 

From 1779 to 1787 the white population of the county of 
Illinois, and the Indian tribes of the territory northwest of the 
Ohio, were kept in a state of incertitude, excitement, and alarm, 
by a succession of events which shall now be briefly noticed in 
their proper order. 

I. — In June, 1779, J Colonel John Bowman led a force of 
three hundred men from Kentucky against an Indian town on 
the Little Miami river. In this expedition Benjamin Logan, 
John Holder, James Harrod, and John Bulger, were captains. 
The expedition " arrived within a short distance of the town, 
near night, and halted. It was then determined to make the 

♦Letter, written in 1790, from Winthrop Sargent to George Washington. 

fLetter, dated Vincennes, January 19, 1802, from Gov. Harrison to James Madison. 

t Jefferson's Correspondence, i, 163. 



188 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

attack by day-break: For this purpose, Captain Logan was 
detached to encircle the town on one side, while Bowman was 
to surround it on the other, and to give the signal of assault. 
Logan immediately executed his part of the plan, and waited 
for his superior officers. Day began to break, and still there 
was no appearance of the detachment in front. Logan in the 
mean time ordered his men to conceal themselves in the grass 
and the weeds. The men, in shifting about for hiding places, 
alarmed one of the enemy's dogs, whose barking soon brought 
out an Indian to discover the cause of the alarm. At this mo- 
ment one of Logan's men discharged his gun : the Indian aware 
that it proceeded from an enemy, gave an instantaneous and 
loud whoop, and ran immediately to his cabin. The alarm 
was now spread; but still the time was not too late for an 
energetic attack. Logan could see the women and children 
escaping to the woods by a ridge between his party and the 
other detachment."* The Indians made a vigorous defence; 
and the party under Colonel Bowman were forced to retreat 
to Kentucky, with a loss of eight or nine men killed. The 
loss of the Indians has not been recorded. 

II. — In the spring of 1780, an expedition commanded by 
Captain Byrd set out from Detroit to attack the settlements in 
Kentucky. This expedition, having some small pieces of artil- 
lery, proceeded in boats as far as it could ascend the Maumee 
river. It moved thence, by land to the Big Miami, down that 
river to the Ohio, and up the Ohio to the mouth of Licking 
river. From this point, with a force amounting to about six 
hundred men, principally Indians, Captain Byrd moved up the 
Licking, as far as the junction of the south fork of that stream. 
Being then in the vicinity of Martin's and Ruddle's stations, 
he appeared before those places about the 22d of June. The 
settlers, being surprised by an overwhelming force, "surren- 
dered at discretion." The Indians plundered the stations, and 
took possession of the prisoners, some of whom were massa- 
cred, while others were carried into captivity. Immediately 
after the reduction of these two inconsiderable stations, Cap- 



•kButler's History Kentucky, 108. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 189 

tain Byrd, although no force appeared to oppose him, comment 
ced a precipitate retreat from Kentucky. Various causes have 
been assigned for this sudden movement : some writers have 
attributed it to the w^eak and vacillating character of Byrd: 
others say, that " shocked by the irrepressible barbarities of the 
Indians, he determined to arrest his expedition, and return to 
Detroit." 

III. — Soon after the retreat of Captain Byrd, General George 
Rogers Clark raised, in Kentucky, an army of about one thou- 
sand men, for the purpose of carrying an expedition against 
the Indian villages on the Little Miami and the Big Miami 
rivers. The army moved from the mouth of Licking river 
about the 2d of August, 1780; and after a march of four days 
it reached the principal Chillicothe village on the banks of the 
Little Miami. The Indians had deserted the place and retired 
to the Piqua town on the Big Miami. The troops under Gen- 
eral Clark, after cutting down the growing corn about the 
Chillicothe village and destroying several Indian huts, marched 
for the Piqua town. This town extended along the margin of 
the river two or three miles; the huts in some cases being 
more than one hundred yards apart. As the Kentuckians ad- 
vanced upon the town, they were suddenly attacked by a con- 
siderable number of Indians ; but the latter, after maintaining 
an obstinate conflict for some time, were at last overpowered 
by superior numbers, and forced to retreat, leaving seventeen 
or eighteen of their men dead on the field. The loss of the 
whites was nineteen or twenty, killed. The Piqua town and 
a few deserted villages within twenty miles of it were reduced 
to ashes; many acres of corn were destroyed: and the Ken- 
tucky troops then returned to the mouth of Licking, where 
they were disbanded, 

IV. — In the fall of 1780, La Balme, a native of France, 
made an attempt to carry an expedition from Kaskaskia 
against Detroit. With twenty or thirty men he marched from 
Kaskaskia to Post Vincennes, where he was joined by a small 
reinforcement. He then moved up the Wabash and reached 
the British trading post, Ke-ki-ong-a, at the head of the river 



190 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Maumee. After plundering the traders and some of the In- 
dians, he marched from the post and encamped near the river 
Aboite. A party of Miami Indians attacked the encampment, 
in the night. La Balme and several of his followers were 
slain, and the expedition was totally defeated and broken up. 

V. — A war between Great Britain and Spain broke out 
early in 1779; and on the 2d of January, 1781, Captain Don 
Eugenio Pierre, a Spaniard, with a detachment of sixty-five 
men, marched for the British post of St. Joseph. This Spanish 
expedition was joined by sixty Indians. The united forces 
reached St. Joseph without opposition, and captured a few 
British traders at that place. Don Eugenio Pierre formally 
took possession of the post, its dependencies, and the river 
Illinois, in the name of the king of Spain. The Spaniards, 
however, soon retired from St. Joseph, and returned to St. 
Louis. Spain made an attempt to found, on this circumstance, 
a claim to a large territory on the eastern side of the river 
Mississippi. 

VL — In the spring of 1781,* an army of eight hundred men 
commanded by Colonel Broadhead, marched from the place of 
rendezvous, at Wheeling, to destroy some Indian settlements 
at Coshocton, near the forks of the Muskingum river. The 
army reached the principal village on the east side of the river 
and took a number of prisoners, without firing a single shot. 
Sixteen captive warriors were immediately tomahawked and 
scalped. The march of the army was arrested by the river, 
which was very high, and the villages on the west side escaped 
destruction. An Indian made his appearance on the western 
bank of the river, and called to some of the sentinels of Broad- 
head's army. They answered, "what do you want?" He 
told them that he washed to see the Big Captain — meaning 
Colonel Broadhead. That officer soon appeared on the east- 
ern bank of the river, and asked the Indian to tell what he 
wanted. The latter replied "I want peace." "Send over 
some of your chiefs," said Colonel Broadhead. " May be you 
kill," replied the Indian. " No," said the Colonel, " they shall 

♦Doddridge says "in the summer of 1780." 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 191 

come, and go, in safety." A chief of very commanding ap- 
pearance then went over the river to the encampment, and 
entered into a conversation with Colonel Broadhead. While 
he was thus engaged, a man whose name was Wetzel, walked 
up behind him, and gave him a powerful blow on the head, 
with a tomahawk. The chief fell down and expired instantly. 
Some Indian villages were destroyed ; a few more Indian pris- 
oners were tomahaAvked ; and the army under Colonel Broad- 
head then retired from the Indian country. 

VII. — In the month of March, 1782, Colonel David Wil- 
liamson, at the head of a party of eighty or ninety mounted 
men, principally from the western part of Pennsylvania, cros- 
sed the Ohio at Mingo Bottom, and marched to destroy the 
towns of the peaceable Moravian Indians on the Muskingum 
river. This party took the unresisting Indians of the villages 
of Gnadenhuetten and Salem — placed them under guard in 
two houses at the former village — and then held a general 
council to decide on their fate. They were doomed to death : 
Only eighteen of Williamson's men were disposed to spare 
their lives. Ninety-six Indians were massacred at this place. 
Among these there were twenty women, and thirty-four chil- 
dren. The deed was perpetrated on the 8th of Mai'ch, 1782. 
The villages and the mangled bodies of the slain were burned ; 
and Colonel Williamson and his party then made a rapid re- 
treat to the settlements on the eastern side of the Ohio. 

VIII. — Early in the spring of 1782, a party of about twenty- 
five Indians appeared before Estill's station, in Kentucky. At 
this place they killed one white man, captured a negro, and 
destroyed some cattle: the Indians then retreated. Captain 
James Estill, at the head of twenty-five men, pursued the re- 
treating party, and overtook them on Hinkston's fork of Lick- 
ing, about two miles below the Little Mountain. After an 
obstinate battle, which was fought on the 22d of March, the 
Kentuckians were defeated, with the loss of nine men killed. 
Captain Estill was among the slain. 

IX. — In the latter part of the month of May, 1782, Colonel 
William Crawford, at the head of four hundred and eighty vol- 



192 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

unteers from the western parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, 
passed the Ohio, near the Mingo Bottom, and marched to 
destroy the Moravian and the Wyandot villages on the river 
Sandusky. The men were mounted, and it was their resolu- 
tion " not to spare the lives of any Indians that might fall into 
their hands, whether friends or foes." * On reaching the plains 
near Upper Sandusky, the force under Crawford was defeated 
by the Indians, and compelled to make a precipitate retreat to 
the eastern side of the Ohio, with a loss of about one hundred 
men. Colonel Crawford was captured by the Indians, tortured, 
and burned to death at the stake. 

X. — On the 15th of August, 1782, Simon Girty,t at the 
head of four or five hundred Indians, appeared before Bryant's 
station, in Kentucky. This station, which contained about 
forty cabins and forty or fifty men, was situated on the south- 
ern bank of Eikhorn, and on the left of the road that now leads 
from Lexington to Maysville. The Indians besieged the place 
from sunrise on the 15th till about ten o'clock the next day, 
when they marched off with a loss of about thirty warriors, 
killed and wounded. The loss of the whites was four men 
killed and three wounded. A party of one hundred and eighty 
mounted men was soon collected, and this small number of 
volunteers, under the command of Colonel John Todd, pursued 
the Indians and overtook them at the Lower Blue Licks, on 
Licking river. At this place, on the 19th of August, a battle 
was fought in which the Kentuckians were defeated with the 
loss of sixty men killed. Colonel John Todd, Major Trigg, 
Major Harland, and Captain McBride were among the slain. 

XL — In the summer of 1783, an officer whose name was 
Laugh ery, was moving down the river Ohio, with about one 
hundred and seven men, to join the Kentuckians at the Falls. 
After passing the mouth of the Big Miami he was attacked by a 
party of Indians near the mouth of a creek which still bears his 
name. Laughery and his party were all killed or captured. 

♦Doddridge, 268. 

t This white man was a chief of the Delaware Indians, and as such lived among t^em 
before the conjmencement of the Revolutionary war. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 193 

XII. — On the 4th of November, 17S2, General George R. 
Clark, at the head of one thousand and fifty men, left the Ohio 
near the mouth of Licking, and marched to destroy the Indian 
villages on the Miami rivers. "We surprised the principal 
Shawanee town, [says General Clark,] on the evening of the 
10th inst. Immediately detaching strong parties to different 
quarters, in a few hours two-thirds of the town was laid in 
ashes, and every thing they were possessed of destroyed, ex- 
cept such articles as might be useful to the troops. The enemy 
had no time to secrete any part of their property which was 
in the town. The British trading post at the head of the 
Miami and carrying place to the waters of the lake shared the 
same fate, at the hands of a party of one hundred and fifty 
horse, commanded by Colonel Benjamin Logan. The property 
destroyed was of great amount ; and the quantity of provisions 
burned surpassed ail idea we had of the Indians stores. The 
loss of the enemy was ten scalps, seven prisoners, and two 
whites retaken: ours was one killed, and one wounded. After 
lying part of four days in their towns, and finding all attempts 
to bring the enemy to a general action fruitless, we retired, as 
the season was far advanced and the weather threatening. 
* * * We might probably have got many more scalps and 
prisoners, could we have known in time whether we were 
discovered or not. We took for granted that we were not, 
until getting within three miles, some circumstances happened 
which caused me to think otherwise. Colonel John Floyd was 
then ordered to advance with three hundred men to bring on 
an action or attack the town, while Major Wells with a party 
of horse had previously been detached by a difterent route as a 
party of observation. Although Colonel Floyd's motions were 
so quick as to get to the town but a few minutes later than 
those who discovered his approach, the inhabitants had sufli- 
cient notice to effect their escape to the \foods, by the alarm 
Cry which was given on the first discovery. I'his was heard 
at a great distance, and rc})eated by all that heard it. Conse- 
quently our parties only fell in with the rear of the enemy."* 

* Letter, dated November 27, 1782, from Gen. G. R. Clark to the Governor of Vir 
ginia — [Butler's History Kentucky, p. 536. 

25 



194 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

XIII. — Provisional articles of peace between the United 
States of America and Great Britain were signed at Paris, on 
the 30th November, 1782. This was followed by an armistice, 
necrotiated at Versailles, on the 20th of January, 1783, declar- 
ing a cessation of hostilities : and finally a definitive treaty of 
peace was concluded at Paris, on the 3d of September, 1783, 
and ratified by Congress on the 14th of January, 1784. The 
war between the United States and Great Britain was virtually 
closed by the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktovvn, in 
Virginia, on the 19th of October, ViSl. By the second article 
of the definitive treaty of 1783, the boundaries of the United 
States were defined and established as follows, viz: From the 
northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz: that angle which is 
formed by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix 
river to the Highlands; along the said Highlands which divide 
those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence 
from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the northwest- 
ernmost head of Connecticut river, thence down along the mid- 
dle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude ; from 
thence, by a line due west on said latitude, until it strikes the 
river Iroquois or Cataraguy; thence along the middle of said 
river into Lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake until 
it strikes the communication by water between that lake and 
Lake Erie ; thence along the middle of said communication 
into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives 
at the water communication between that lake and Lake Hu- 
ron; thence along the middle of said water communication 
into the Lake Huron ; thence through the middle of said lake to 
the water communication between that lake and Lake Supe- 
rior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the isles 
Royal and Philipeaux, to the Long Lake; thence through the 
middle of the said Long Lake, and the water communication 
between it and the Lake of the Woods, to the said Lake of the 
Woods ; thence through the said lake to the most northwest- 
ern point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the 
river Mississippi ; thence by a line to be drawn along the mid- 
dle of the said river Mississippi until it shall intersect the north- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 195 

ernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude. South, 
by a Hne to be drawn due east from the determination of the 
line last mentioned, in the latitude of thirtj^-one degrees north 
of the equator, to the middle of the river Appalachicola or Cat- 
ahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with 
the Flint river; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's river, 
and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's river to the 
Atlantic ocean. East, by a line to be drawn along the middle 
'of the river St. Croix, from its mouth, in the Bay of Fundy, to 
its source; and from its source, directly north, to the aforesaid 
Highlands, which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic 
ocean from those which fall into the river St. Lawrence : com- 
prehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the 
shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be 
drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries 
between Nova Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the 
other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlan- 
tic ocean; excepting such islands as now are, or heretofore have 
been, within the limits of the said Province of Nova Scotia. 

XIV. — On the 11th of April, 17S3, a proclamation was 
issued by Congress, declaring a cessation of hostilities between 
the United States and Great Britain. 

XV. — On the 2d of July, 17S3, General George Rogers 
Clark was dismissed from the service of Virginia. On this 
occasion, Benjamin Harrison, the Governor of Virginia, wrote 
to General Clark a letter which contained the following passa- 
ges: — " The conclusion of the war, and the distressed situation 
of the state, with respect to its finances, call on us to adopt the 
most prudent economy. It is for this reason alone I have 
come to a determination to give over all thoughts for the pre- 
sent of carrying on an offensive war against the Indians, which 
you will easily perceive will render the services of a general 
officer in that quarter unnecessary, and will therefore consider 
yourself as out of command: but before I take leave of you, I 
feel myself called upon in the most forcible manner to return 
you my thanks, and those of my Council, for the very great 
and singular services you have rendered your country, in 



196 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

wresting so great and valuable a territory out of the hands of 
the British enemy, repelUng the attacks of their savage alHes, 
and carrying on successful war in the heart of their country. 
This tribute of praise and thanks, so justly due, I am happy to 
communicate to you as the united voice of the executive." 

XVI. — In the month of July, 1779, two Piankeshaw chiefs, 
Tabac, and Grand Cornette, by deed conveyed to George Ro- 
gers Clark a tract of land two and a half leagues square, lying 
on the northwestern side of the Ohio opposite the falls of that 
river. Virginia never confirmed this purchase; because the 
constitution of that state, which was formed in May, 1776, 
declared that no purchase of lands should be made of the In- 
dian natives, but on behalf of the public, by the authority of 
the General Assembly. By an act of the 2d of January, 1781, 
the General Assembly of Virginia resolved that, on certain 
conditions, they would cede to Congress, for the benefit of the 
United States, all the right, title, and claim which Virginia had 
to the territory northwest of the river Ohio. Congress, by an 
act of the 13th of September, 1783, agreed to accept the ces- 
sion of the territory: and the General Assembly of Virginia, 
on the 20th of December, 1783, passed an act authorizing 
their delegates in Congress to convey to the United States, 
the right, title, and, claim of Virginia to the lands northwest 
of the river Ohio. 

XVII. — In October, 1783, the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia passed an act for laying oft' the town of Clarksville, at 
the Falls of the Ohio, in the county of Illinois. The act provi- 
ded that the lots, of half an acre each, should be sold at public 
auction for the best price that could be had. The purchasers 
respectively were to hold their lots subject to the condition 
of building on each, within three years from the day of sale, a 
dwelling house "twenty feet by eighteen, at least, with a brick 
or stone chimney."* William Fleming, John Edwards, John 
Campbell, Walker Daniel, George R. Clark, Abraham Chaplin, 
John Montgomery, John Bailey, Robert Todd, and William 
Clark, were, by the act of the Assembly, constituted trustees 
of the town of Clarksville. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 197 

XVIII. — On the 1st day of March, 1784, Thomas Jefferson, 
Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee, and James Monroe, delegates in 
Congress on the part of Virginia, executed a deed of cession, 
by Avhicli they transferred to the United States, on certain 
conditions, all right, title, and claim of Virginia to the country 
northwest of the river Ohio. The deed of cession contained 
the following condition^, viz: "That the territory so ceded 
shall be laid out and formed into states, containing a suitable 
extent of territory, not less than one hundred, nor more than 
one hundred and fifty miles square ; or as near thereto as cir- 
cumstances will admit: and that the states so formed shall be 
distinct republican states, and admitted members of the federal 
union; having the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and 
independence, as the other states. That the necessary and rea- 
sonable expenses incurred by Virginia, in subduing any British 
posts, or in maintaining forts and garrisons within, and for the 
defence, or in acquiring any part of, the territory so ceded or 
relinquished, shall be fully reimbursed by the United States. 
That the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers 
of the Kaskaskias, Post Vincennes, and the neighboring villa- 
ges, who have professed themselves citizens of Virginia, shall 
have their possessions and titles confirmed to them, and be 
protected in the enjoyment of their rights and liberties. That 
a quantity not exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand acres 
of land, promised by Virginia, shall be allowed and granted to 
the then Colonel, now General George Rogers Clark, and to 
the officers and soldiers of his regiment, who marched with 
him when the posts of Kaskaskia and Vincennes were reduced, 
and to the officers and soldiers that have been since incorpo- 
rated into the said regiment, to be laid off in one tract, the 
length of which not to exceed double the breadth, in such place 
on the northwest side of the Ohio, as a majority of the officers 
shall choose,* and to be afterwards divided among the officers 
and soldiers in due proportion, according to the laws of Vii'- 
ginia. That in case the quantity of good lands on the southeast 

*This reservation was laid off on the borders of the Ohio river, adjacent to tlic falls ; 
and the tract was called the "Illinois Grant." 



198 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

side of the Ohio, upon the waters of Cumberland river, and 
between the Green river and Tennessee river, which have been 
reserved by law for the Virginia troops upon continental estab- 
lishment, should, from the North Carolina line bearing in fur- 
ther upon the Cumberland lands than was expected, prove 
insufficient for their legal bounties, the deficiency shall be 
made up to the said troops, in good lands to be laid off between 
the rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on the northwest side of 
the river Ohio, in such proportions as have been engaged to 
them by the laws of Virginia.* That all the lands within the 
territory so ceded to the United States, and not reserved for, 
or appropriated to any of the before-mentioned purposes, or 
disposed of in bounties to the officers and soldiers of the Amer- 
ican army, shall be considered as a common fund for the use 
and benefit of such of the United States as have become, or 
shall become members of the confederation or federal alliance 
of the said states, Virginia inclusive, according to their usual 
respective proportions in the general charge and expenditure, 
and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that pur- 
pose, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever." 

XIX. — In the spring of 17S4, after the Virginia deed of ces- 
sion had been accepted by Congress, the subject was referred, 
in that body, to a committee consisting of Messrs. Jefferson, 
of Virginia, Chase, of Maryland, and Howell, of Rhode Island. 
This committee reported an ordinance for the government of 
the territory northwest of the river Ohio. The ordinance de- 
clared that, after the year 1800, there should be neither slavery 
nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in punishment of 

*By the provisions of tlie acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, of the 3d of Octo- 
ber, 1779, and 5th of October, 1780, the following Land Bounties were promised to the 
officers and soldiers of Virginia who should serve to the end of the Revolutionary war, viz; 
To a Major General, - - - - - 15,000 acres. 

Brigadier General, - . - . - 10,000 acres. 

Colonel, .-.--. 6,666§ acres. 

Lieutenant Colonel, - . • - - 6,000 acres. 

Major, - - - . ... 5,666 § acres. 

Captain, -...-. 4,000 acres. 

Subaltern, ...... 2,666S acres. 

Non-coinmiasioned officer, .... 400 acres, 

Soldier, (private,) ..... 200 acres. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 199 

crime, in any of the states to be formed out of the said terri- 
tory. This ordinance was rejected; but, on the 23d of April, 
1784, Congress, by a series of resohitions, provided for the 
maintenance of temporary government in the country which 
the United States had acquired northwest of the Ohio. 

XX. — On the 21st of January, 1785, George Rogers Clark, 
Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, commissioners on the part of 
the United States, negotiated, at Fort Mcintosh,* a treaty of 
peace with a number of sachems and warriors of the Wyan- 
dot, Delaware, Chippewa, and Ottawa nations of Indians.f 

XXI. — On the 20th of May, 1785, the Congress of the Uni- 
ted States passed "An ordinance for ascertaining the nwde of 
disposing of lands in the western territory." J 

XXII. — By an order of Congress, of the 15th of June, 1785, 
the following proclamation was circulated in the country north- 
west of the river Ohio : " Whereas it has been represented to 
the United States in Congress assembled, that several disor- 
derly persons have crossed the river Ohio and settled upon 
their unappropriated lands; and whereas it is their intention, 
as soon as it shall be surveyed, to open offices for the sale of a 
considerable part thereof, in such proportions and under such 
other regulations as may suit the convenience of all the citizens 
of the said states and others who may wish to become purcha- 
sers of the same : and as such conduct tends to defeat the 
object which they have in view; is in direct opposition to the 
ordinances and resolutions of Congress, and highly disrespect- 
ful to the federal authority; they have, therefore, thought fit, 
and do hereby issue this their proclamation, strictly forbidding 
all such unwarrantable intrusions, and enjoining all those who 
have settled thereon to depart with their families and effects, 
without loss of time, as they shall answer the same at their 
peril." 

XXIII. — In Congress, on the 18th of March, 1785, it was 

*0n the northern side of the river Ohio, at the mouth of Beaver creek, about twenty 
nine miles below Pittsburgh. 
tSee Appendix A. 
JSee Appendl* B. 



200 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

resolved, "That, in order to give greater security to the fron- 
tier settlement, and establish a boundary line between the 
United States and the Pottawattamie, Twightwee, Pianke- 
shaw and other western nations, a treaty be held with the 
said Indians at Post Vincennes, on the Wabash river, on the 
20th day of June, 17S5, or at such other time or place as the 
Commissioners may find more convenient." By a resolution of 
Congress, of the 6th of June, 1785, the commissioners on the 
part of the United States were authorized and directed to ob- 
tain from the western tribes of Indians a cession of lands *' as 
extensive and liberal as possible." The resolution of the 18th 
of March, the ordinance of the 20th of May, and the procla- 
mation of the 15th of June, aroused the jealousy of the w^estern 
Indians, and produced no small degree of excitement among 
the American adventurers and the French settlers at Post 
Vincennes. The French settlers, by virtue of Indian grants 
find court concessions, claimed, on the northwestern side of 
the Ohio, a territory of about fifteen thousand square miles. 
The claims of the Illinois and Wabash Land Companies cov- 
ered a region of far greater extent. Neither these Land Com- 
panies, nor the Miami Indians, nor the French inhabitants of 
Post Vincennes, were disposed to give up to the United States 
their respective claims to lands lying northwest of the river 
Ohio. The Indians who resided on the Wabash were restless 
and jealous of the advancing settlements of the whites; the 
British still held possession of the posts of Michilimackinac, 
Detroit, and some of their dependencies ; the Spaniards claim- 
ed the right and left banks of the Mississippi, and maintained 
that the dominion of the United States did not extend as far 
westward as that river : and the inhabitants of Kaskaskia and 
Post Vincennes were distressed by commotion among them- 
selves. By a resolution of Congress of the 29th of June, 1785, 
the commissioners for negotiating a treaty with the western 
Indians, were directed to hold the said treaty on the western 
banks of the Ohio, at the rapids, or at the mouth of the Great 
Miami river. At the latter place on the 31st of January, 1786, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 201 

a treaty was concluded between the United States and the 
Shawanee Indians.* 

XXIV. — A large Indian council, composed of deputies from 
different tribes, was held at Ouiatenon on the river Wabash, 
in the month of August, 1785. About the same time an Indian 
killed one of the French inhabitants of Post Vincennes. A 
party "of the friends of this man then fell on the Indians, killed 
four and wounded some more. Soon afterwards an Indian 
chief waited on the French inhabitants, and told them that 
they must remove at a fixed time — that the Indians were 
determined to make war on the American settlors — and that 
if the French remained at Post Vincennes, they would share 
the fate of the Americans." f Notwithstanding the hostile 
temper of the Indians, during the years 1785 and 1786, the 
court of Post Vincennes continued to grant tracts of land to 
various French and American adventurers. The fees of the 
court for each deed of concession amounted to four dollars. 
Of the Americans, who attempted to make improvements on 
such grants, some were killed by the Indians, others became 
alarmed and retired to Kentucky, and a few remained at Post 
Vincennes, where they were protected by the French inhab- 
itants. 

XXV. — In the year 1786, some traders arrived in boats at 
Post Vincennes, and reported that they had been fired on by a 
party of Indians who were encamped near the mouth of the 
river Embarrass, a few miles below the town. A settler, whose 
name was Small, immediately raised a company of thirty or 
forty men, and proceeded to the Indian encampment. In a 
skirmish which then took place several Indians and some white 
men were killed. 

At this period the hostile temper of the Indians harassed the 
inhabitants of Kentucky — interfered materially with the pro- 
jects of a numerous class of land-jobbers — prevented the set- 
tlement of Clark's grant — and frustrated the unremitting at- 
tempts of Congress to extinguish the Indian right to lands on 

*See Appendix, C. 

tCorrespondence of Captain John Armstrong, September, 1785. 

36 



202 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the northwestern side of the river Ohio. Such was the state 
of affairs when, in the summer of 1786, a strong mihtary force 
was raised in Kentucky, for the purpose of making simulta- 
neous attacks on the Indian towns of the Wabash and the 
Shawanee villages in the country between the Big Miami and 
the Scioto rivers. About one thousand men, under the com- 
mand of General George Rogers Clark, marched from the Falls 
of the Ohio for Post Vincennes, and arrived in the neighbor- 
hood of that place early in the month of October. The army 
then encamped, and lay in a state of inactivity for nine daysy 
awaiting the arrival of provisions and stores which had been 
shipped on keel boats at Louisville and Clarksville. When the 
boats arrived at Post Vincennes about one half of the provision 
was spoiled ; and that part w^hich had been moved by land was 
almost exhausted. A spirit of discontent began to manifest 
itself in camp, even before the arrival of the boats; and when 
the state of supplies was known, this spirit became more appa- 
rent.* The Kentucky troops, however, having been reinforced 
by a considerable number of the inhabitants of Post Vincennes, 
were ordered to move up the Wabash, towards the Indian 
towns that lay in the vicinity of the ancient post of Ouiatenon. 
The people of these towns had received intelh'gence of the ap- 
proach of their enemy, and had selected a place for an ambus- 
cade among the defiles of Pine creek. On reaching the neigh- 
borhood of the mouth of Vermillion river, the army found that 
the Indians had deserted their villages on that stream near its 
junction with the Wabash. At this crisis, when the spirits of 
the officers and men were depressed by disappointment, hun- 
ger, and fatigue, some persons circulated throughout the camp 
a rumor that General Clark had sent a flag of truce to the In- 
dians, with the offer of peace or war. This rumor, combined 
with a lamentable change which had taken place in the once 
temperate, bold, energetic and commanding character of Clark, 
excited among the troops a spirit of insubordination which 
neither the commands, nor the entreaties, nor the tears of the 
General could subdue. At an encampment near the mouth of 

".Marshall's History of Kentucky. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 203 

the Vermillion river, about three hundred men in a body left 
the army, and proceeded on their way homeward. The re- 
mainder of the troops, under the command of General Clark, 
then abandoned the expedition and returned to Post Vincennes. 
The expedition which marched against the Shawanee villa- 
ges was commanded by Colonel Benjamin Logan. This officer 
at the head of four or five hundred mounted riflemen, crossed 
the river Ohio at the point where the town of Maysville now 
stands, and penetrated the Indian country as far as the head 
waters of Mad river. In the words of one of the actors * in 
this expedition, " Colonel Logan would have surprised the In- 
dian towns against which he marched, had not one of his men 
deserted to the enemy, and gave notice of his approach. As it 
was, he burned eight large towns, and destroyed many fields 
of corn. He took seventy or eighty prisoners, and killed about 
twenty warriors, and among the rest, the head chief of the 
nation. This last act caused deep regret, humiliation, and 
shame to the commander and his troops." The murder of the 
chief was, however, perpetrated in direct violation of the or- 
ders of Colonel Logan. In the course of this expedition the 
Kentuckians lost about ten men.f 



*The late Gen. William Lytle, of Cincinnati. 
fMcDonald's SIcetches. 



CHAPTER XI. 

In the month of October, 1786, a Board, composed of field 
officers in the Wabash expedition, met in council at Post Vin- 
cennes, and "unanimously agreed that a garrison at that place 
would be of essential service to the district of Kentucky, and 
that supplies might be had in the district more than sufficient 
for their support, by impressment or otherwise, under the 
direction of a commissary to be appointed for that purpose, 
pursuant to the authority vested in the field officers of the dis- 
trict by the Executive of Virginia. The same Board appointed 
Mr. John Craig, jr. a commissary of purchases; and resolved 
that one field officer and two hundred and fifty men (exclusive 
of a company of artillery to be commanded by Captain Valen- 
tine Thomas Dalton,) be recruited to garrison Post Vincennes; 
and that Colonel John Holder be appointed to command the 
troops in this service." * In order to carry these resolutions 
into eflfect. General Clark, who " assumed the supreme direc- 
tion of the corps," f began to levy recruits, appoint officers, and 
impress provisions for the support of a garrison at Post Vin- 
cennes. He despatched messages to the Indian tribes that hved 
on the borders of the Wabash, and invited those tribes to meet 
him in a great council at Clarksville, on the 20th of November, 
1786, to make a treaty of peace and friendship. A few chiefs 
of different bands sent answers to General Clark, and express- 
ed their willingness to meet him in council, not at Clarksville, 
but at Post Vincennes. The following is an extract from the 
answer of " the Goose and Fusil : " 

♦Secret Journals of Congress, iv. 311. 
tib. 312. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 205 

"My Elder Brother: Thou oughtest to know the place we 
have been accustomed to speak at: it is at Post Vincennes. 
There our chiefs are laid. There our ancestor's bed is, and 
that of our father the French — and not at Clarksville, where 
you required us to meet you : We don't know such a place : 
but at Post Vincennes where we always went when necessary 
to hold councils. My Elder Brother — thou informest me I 
must meet you at the place I have mentioned ; yet, thou seest, 
my brother, that the season is far advanced ; and that I would 
not have time to invite my allies to come to your council, which 
we pray to hold at Post Vincennes." 

In replying to this message, and to other communications of 
a similar nature, General Clark said, " I propose the last of 
April, [17S7] for the grand council to be held at this place. 
Post Vincennes, where I expect all those who are inclined to 
open the roads will appear, and we can soon discover what 
the Deity means." 

At this period the Spanish minister, Mr. Gardoqui, and John 
Jay, the Secretary of the United States for Foreign Affairs, 
were carrying on negotiations for the establishment of a treaty 
between the United States and Spain. On the 3d of August, 
1786, Mr. Jay made before Congress a certain statement, from 
which the following is an extract: — " It appears to me that a 
proper commercial treaty with Spain would be of more impor- 
tance to the United States than any they have formed, or can 
form, with any other nation. I am led to entertain this opin- 
ion from the influence which Spain may and will have both on 
our politics and commerce. France, whom we consider as our 
ally, and to whom we shall naturally turn our eyes for aid in 
case of war, &c. is strongly bound to Spain by the family com- 
pact ; and the advantages she derives from it are so various and 
so great, that it is questionable whether she could ever remain 
neutral in case of a rupture between us and Spain. Besides, 
we are well apprised of the sentiments of France relative to 
our western claims — in which I include that of freely naviga- 
ting the river Mississippi. I take it for granted that, while 
the compact in question exists, France will invariably think it 



206 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

her interest to prefer the good will of Spain to the good will of 
America; and although she would very reluctantly give um- 
brage to either, yet, if driven to take part with one or the 
other, I think it would not be in our favor. Unless we are 
friends with Spain, her influence, whether more or less, on the 
counsels of Versailles, will always be against us. * * * On 
general principles of policy and commerce, it is the interest of 
the United States to be on the best terms with Spain. * * * 
My attention is chiefly fixed on two obstacles which at present 
divide us, viz: the navigation of the Mississippi, and the terri- 
torial limits between them and us. 

"My letters from Spain, when our affairs were the least 
promising, evince my opinion respecting the Mississippi, and 
oppose every idea of our relinquishing our right to navigate it. 
I entertain the same sentiments of that right, and of the impor- 
tance of retaining it, which I then did. Mr. Gardoqui strongly 
insists on our relinquishing it. We have had many conferen- 
ces and much reasoning on the subject, not necessary now to 
detail. His concluding answer to all my arguments has stead- 
ily been, that the king will never yield that point, nor consent 
to any compromise about it: for that it always has been, and 
continues to be, one of their maxims of policy, to exclude all 
mankind from their American shores. 

"I have often reminded him that the adjacent country was 
filling fast with people; and that the time must and would 
come, when they would not submit to seeing a fine river flow 
before their doors without using it as a highway to the sea for 
the transportation of their productions: that it would therefore 
be wise to look forward to that event, and take care not to sow 
in the treaty any seeds of future discord. He said that the 
time alluded to was far distant ; and that treaties were not to 
provide for contingencies so remote and future. For his part 
he considered the rapid settlement of that country as injurious 
to the states, and that they would find it necessary to check it. 
Many fruitless arguments passed between us; and though he 
would admit that the only way to make treaties and friendship 
permanent, was for neither party to leave the other any thing 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 207 

to complain of; yet he would still insist that the Mississippi 
must be shut against us. * * * Circumstanced as we are, I 
think it would be expedient to agree that the treaty should be 
limited to twenty-five or thirty years, and that one of the arti- 
cles should stipulate that the United States would forbear to 
use the navigation of that river below their territories to the 
ocean. Thus the duration of the treaty and of the forbearance 
in question would be limited to the same period. Whether 
Mr. Gardoqui would be content with such an article, I cannot 
determine, my instructions restraining me from even sounding 
him respecting it. I nevertheless think the experiment worth 
trying for several reasons. 

1. Because unless that matter can in some way or other 
be settled, the treaty, however advantageous, will not be con- 
cluded. 

2. As the navigation is not at present important, nor will 
probably become much so in less than twenty-five or thirty 
years, a forbearance to use it while we do not want it is nc 
great sacrifice. 

3. Spain now excludes us from that navigation, and with a 
strong hand holds it against us. She will not yield it peace- 
ably, and therefore we can only acquire it by war. Now, as 
we are not prepared for a war with any power; as many of 
the states would be little inclined to a war with Spain for that 
object at this day; and as such a war would, for those and a; 
variety of obvious reasons, be inexpedient, it follows that Spain 
will, for a long space of time yet to come, exclude us from that 
navigation. Why, therefore, should we not (for a valuable 
consideration, too,) consent to forbear to use what we know is- 
not iA our power to use? * * * With respect to territorial 
limits, it is clear to me that Spain can justly claim nothing east 
of the Mississippi but what may be comprehended within the' 
bounds of the Floridas. IIow far those bounds extend, or 
ought to extend, may prove a question of more difficulty to" 
negotiate than to decide. Pains, I think, should be taken to' 
conciliate and settle all such matters amicably: and it would 
be better even to yield a few acres than to part in ill humor. 



208 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

* * * It is much to be wished that all these matters had lain 
dormant for years yet to come; but such wishes are vain 5 
these disputes are agitating: they press themselves upon us; 
and must terminate in accommodation, or war, or disgrace. 
The last is the worst that can happen: the second we are 
unprepared for; and, therefore, our attention and endeavors 
should be bent to the first. * * * 

"Spain is now able and wilHng to grant us favors: other 
treaties and other dispositions and views may render her in 
future both unable and unwilling to do the like. At a time 
when other nations are showing us no extraordinary marks of 
respect, the court of Spain is even courting our friendship, by 
strong marks not merely of polite and friendly attention, but 
by offering us favors not common for her to hold out or be- 
stow; for I consider the terms she proposes as far more advan- 
tageous than any to be found in her commercial treaties with 
other nations. If after all her endeavors to take us by the 
hand, we should hold it back, every disposition and passion 
opposite to kind and friendly ones will undoubtedly influence 
_j her future conduct. Disappointed in her views, and mortified 
by repulse, and that in the sight of Europe, we may easily 
judge what her feelings would be: nor is it difficult to foresee 
that those feelings, stimulated by the jealousies and apprehen- 
sions before mentioned, will naturally precipitate and keep her 
in a system of politics, from which the United States cannot 
expect to derive advantage. The Mississippi would continue 
shut: France would tell us our claim to it was ill founded. 
The Spanish posts on its banks, and even those out of Florida 
in our country, would be strengthened, and that nation would 
there bid us defiance, with impunity, at least until the Ameri- 
can nation shall become more really and truly a nation than it 
at present is. For, unblessed with an efficient government, 
destitute of funds, and without public credit, either at home or 
abroad, we should be obliged to wait in patience for better 
days, or plunge into an unpopular or dangerous war with very 
httle prospect of terminating it by a peace, either advantageous 
or glorious. Supposing the Spanish business out of the question, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 209 

yet the situation of the United States appears to me to be seri- 
ously delicate, and to call for great circumspection both at 
home and abroad ; nor, in my opinion, will this cease to be the 
case, until a vigorous national government be formed, and pub- 
lic credit and confidence established."* 

The delegates in Congress from the states of New Hamp- 
shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, 
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania were disposed, in case a treaty 
with Spain could not otherwise be made, to forbear, for a lim- 
ited time, the use of the navigation of the river Mississippi be- 
low the southern boundary of the United States. The dele- 
gates from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina 
and Georgia would not consent to a temporary relinquishment 
of the right of citizens of the United States to the free naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi: and, as by the ninth article of the con- 
federation the assent of nine states was necessary in making a 
treaty, the proposition of Mr. Jay was not carried into effect. 
Although Congress, while debating on this subject, sat with 
closed doors, its proceedings soon became partially known< 
The proposition was magnified into an actual treaty, and called 
from the w^estern people most bitter complaints and reproach- 
es.! The following is a copy of a letter from a western settler 
to the Governor of the state of Georgia : 

" Louisville, Falls of Ohio, December 23, 1786. 
"Honored and respected sir: Since I had the pleasure of 
writing my last, many circumstances of alarming nature have 
turned up to view. The commercial treaty with Spain is con- 
sidered to be cruel, oppressive, and unjust. The prohibition 
of the navigation of the Mississippi has astonished the whole 
western country. To sell us and make us vassals of the mer- 
ciless Spaniards is a grievance not to be borne. Should we 
tamely submit to such manacles we should be unworthy the 
name of Americans, and a scandal to the annals of its history. 
It is very surprising to every rational person that the legisla- 
ture of the United States, which has been so applauded for 

♦Secret Journals of Congress, iv. 45. 
tPitkin, ii. 208. 

27 



210 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

their assertion and defence of their rights and privileges, should 
so soon endeavor to subjugate the greatest part of their domin- 
ion even to worse slavery than ever Great Britain presumed to 
subjugate any part of hers. Ireland is a free country to what 
this will be when its navigation is entirely shut. We may as 
well be sold for bondsmen as to have the Spaniards share all 
the benefits of our toils. They will receive all the fruits, pro- 
duce of this large, rich and fertile country at their own prices, 
(which you may be assured will be very low,) and therefore 
will be able to supply their own markets and all the markets 
of Europe on much lower terms than what the Americans pos-* 
sibly can. What then are the advantages that the inhabitants 
of the Atlantic shores are to receive ? This is summed up in a 
very few words : their trade and navigation ruined, and their 
brethren laboring to enrich a luxurious, merciless, and arbitrary 
nation. Too much of our property have they already seized, 
condemned, and confiscated, testimonies of which I send you 
accompanying this. Our situation cannot possibly be worse; 
therefore every exertion to retrieve our circumstances must be 
manly, eligible and just. The minds af the people here are 
very much exasperated against both the Spaniards and Con- 
gress. But they are happy to hear that the state of Georgia 
has protested against such vile proceedings: therefore they 
have some hopes, looking up to that state, craving to be pro- 
tected in our just rights and privileges. 

"Matters here seem to wear a threatening aspect. The 
troops stationed at Post Vincennes by orders of General 
George Rogers Clark have seized upon what Spanish property 
there was at that place, also at the Illinois, in retaliation for 
their many offences. General Clark, who has fought so glori- 
ously for his country, and whose name strikes all the western 
savages with terror, together with many other gentlemen of 
merit, engages to raise troops sufficient, and go with me to the 
Natchez to take possession, and settle the lands agreeable to 
the lines of that state, at their own risk and expense ; provi- 
ded you in your infinite goodness will countenance them and 
give us the lands to settle it agreeable to the laws of your state- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 211 

Hundreds are now waiting to join us with their families, seek- 
ing asylum for liberty and religion. Not hearing that the lines 
are settled between you and the Spaniards, we therefore wish 
for your directions concerning them, and the advice of your 
superior wisdom. At the same time assuring you that we have 
contracted for a very large quantity of goods, we hope suffi- 
cient to supply all the Indians living within the limits of Geor- 
gia. Trusting that we shall be able to make them independent 
of the Spaniards, wean their affections and procure their es- 
teem for us and the United States, as we expect to take the 
goods down with us. We earnestly pray that you would give 
us full liberty to trade with all those tribes, and also to give 
your agents for Indian affairs all the necessary instructions for 
the prosperity of our scheme. The season for the Indian trade 
will be so far advanced that I wait with very great impatience. 

" General Clark, together with a number of other gentlemen, 
will be ready to proceed down the river with me on the short- 
est notice, therefore hope and earnestly pray that you will 
despatch the express back with all possible speed with your 
answer, and all the encouragement due to so great an under- 
taking. As to the further particulars I refer you to the bearer 
Mr. William Wells,* a gentlemen of merit who will be able to 
inform you more minutely than I possibly can of the sentiments 
of the people of this western country. 

Sir, I have the honor to be your honors, &c. 

THOMAS GREEN." 

During the winter of 17S6-'7, copies of the following pro- 

*"LocisviLLE, December 4, 1786: — Jefterson County, ss. 
"Whereas William Wells is now employed by Colonel Thomas Green and others to go 
to Augusta, in the state of Georgia, on public business, and it being uncertain whether he 
will be paid for his journey out of the public treasury: should he not be, on his return, we 
the subscribers do jointly and severally, for value received, promise to pay him on demand 
the several sums that are affixed to our names, as witness our hands. 



Thomas Green, 


jCIO 00 


James Huling, 


£1 00; 


John Williams, 


1 00 


David Morgan, 


- 1 00 


George R. Clark, 


10 00 


John Montgomery, 


1 00 


Lawrence Muse, 


3 00 


Ebenezer S. Piatt, - 


- 1 00 


Richard Brashears, 


5 00 


Robert Elliott, 


10 


Jamee Patton, 


3 GO 


Thomas Stribbling, 


■ 1 10 



[Secret Journal of Congress, iv. 318. 



212 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

duction were circulated with an air of secrecy, among some oj 
the American settlements on the western side of the Alle- 
gheny mountains: 

" A COPY OF A LETTER FROM A GENTLEMAN AT THE FaLLS OF 

Ohio, to his friend in New England, dated December 4th, 

1786. 

"Dear Sir: Politics, which a few months ago were scarcely 
thought of, are now sounded aloud in this part of the world, 
and discussed by almost every person. The late commercial 
treaty with Spain, in shutting up, as it is said, the navigation 
of the Mississippi for the term of twenty-five years, has given 
this western country a universal shock, and struck' its inhabi- 
tants with an amazement. Our foundation is affected. It is 
therefore necessary that every individual exert himself to apply 
a remedy. To sell us, and make us vassals to the merciless 
Spaniards, is a grievance not to be borne. The parliamentary 
acts which occasioned our revolt from Great Britain were not 
so barefaced and intolerable. To give us the liberty of trans- 
porting our effects down the river to New Orleans, and then 
be subject to the Spanish laws and impositions, is an insult 
upon our understanding. We know by woful experience that 
it is in their power, when once there, to take our produce at 
any price they please. Large quantities of flour, tobacco, 
meal, &c. have been taken there the last summer, and mostly 
confiscated. Those who had permits from their Governor, 
were obliged to sell at a price he was pleased to state, or sub- 
ject themselves to lose the whole. Men of large property are 
already ruined by their policy. What benefit can you on the 
Atlantic shores receive from this act? The Spaniards, from 
the amazing resources of this river, can supply all their own 
markets at a much lower price than you possibly can. Though 
this country has been settling but about six years, and that in 
the midst of an inveterate enemy, and most of the first adven- 
turers fallen a prey to the savages, and although the emigra- 
tion to this country is so very rapid that the internal market is 
very great, yet the quantities of produce they now have on 
hand are immense. Flour and pork are now selling here at 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 213 

twelve shillings the hundred; beef in proportion; any quan- 
tities of Indian corn can be had at nine pence per bushel. 
Three times the quantity of tobacco and corn can be raised 
on an acre here that can be within the settlement on the east 
side of the mountains, and with less cultivation. It is there- 
fore rational to suppose that in a very few years the vast bo- 
dies of waters in those rivers will labor under immense weight 
of the produce of this rich and fertile country, and the Spanish 
ships be unable to convey it to market. 

"Do you think to prevent the emigration from a barren 
country, loaded with taxes and impoverished with debts, to 
the most luxurious and fertile soil in the world ? Vain is the 
thought, and presumptuous the supposition. You may as well 
endeavor to prevent the fishes from gathering on a bank in the 
sea which affords them plenty of nourishment. Shall the best 
and largest part of the United States be uncultivated, a nest 
for savages and beasts of prey? Certainly not. Providence 
has designed it for nobler purposes. This is convincing to 
every one who beholds the many advantages and pleasing 
prospects of this country. Here is a soil, richer to appearance 
than can possibly be made by art. Large plains and meadows 
without the labor of hands, sufficient to support millions of 
cattle, summer and winter; cane, which is also a fine nourish- 
ment for them, without bounds. The spontaneous production 
of this country surpasses your imagination. Consequently, I 
see nothing to prevent our herds being as numerous here in 
time as they are in the kingdom of Mexico. Our lands to the 
northward of the Ohio, for the produce of wheat, &c. will, I 
think, vie with the island of Sicily. Shall all this country now 
be cultivated for the use of the Spaniards? Shall we be their 
bondmen as the children of Israel were to the Egyptians? 
Shall one part of the United States be slaves, while the other 
is free? Human nature shudders at the thought, and freemen 
will despise those who could be so mean as to even contem- 
plate on so vile a subject. 

"Our situation is as bad as it possibly can be; therefore 
every exertion to retrieve our circumstances, must be manly, 



214 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

eligible and just. We can raise twenty thousand troops on 
this side the Allegheny and Apalachian mountains; and the 
annual increase of them by emigration, from other parts, is 
from two to four thousand. 

'< We have taken all the goods belonging to the Spanish mer- 
chants of Post Vincennes and the Illinois, and are determined 
they shall not trade up the river, provided they will not let us 
trade down it. Preparations are now making here (if neces- 
sary) to drive the Spaniards from their settlements, at the 
mouth of the Mississippi. In case we are not countenanced 
and succored by the United States (if we need it) our allegi- 
ance will be thrown off, and some other power applied to. 
Great Britain stands ready with open arms to receive and sup- 
port us. They have already offered to open their resources for 
our supplies. When once re-united to them, "farewell, a long 
farewell to all your boasted greatness." The province of Can- 
ada and the inhabitants of these waters, of themselves, in time, 
will be able to conquer you. You are as ignorant of this coun- 
try as Great Britain was of America. These hints, if rightly 
improved, may be of some service: if not, blame yourselves for 
the neglect." * 

It is not probable that the opinions and sentiments of the 
authors of this letter, were ever held or entertained by any 
considerable number of the western settlers. It seems, indeed, 
from the following memorial which was sent to the Governor 
of Virginia, that many of the most influential citizens of the 
district of Kentucky regarded with sentiments of disapprobation 
the projects of Mr. Green, and the proceedings of the troops 
under the command of General Clark, at Post Vincennes : 

" Danville, [Kentucky,] Dec. 22, 1786. 

"Sir: Whatever general impropriety there may be in a few 
private individuals addressing your Excellency on subjects of 
public nature, we cannot resist those impulses of duty and 
affection, which prompt us to lay before the honorable Board 
at which you preside a statement of certain unwarrantable 

*Seeret Journal Congress, iv. 320. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 215 

transactions^ which we are apprehensive may, without the 
seasonable interposition of the legislature, deeply affect the 
dignity, honor, and interest of the commonwealth. 

"The testimonials which accompany this will give your 
excellency a general idea of the outrage which has been com- 
mitted at Post Vincennes, of the illicit views of Mr. Green 
and his accomplices, and the negotiation which has taken place 
between General Clark and the Wabash Indians. 

" We beg leave to add, that we have reason to believe proper^ 
ty has been plundered to a very considerable amount, and that 
it has been generally appropriated to private purposes. We 
are fearful that Green will find no difficulty in levying auxilia- 
ries in the titular state of Frankland, and the settlements on 
Cumberland ; in the meantime attempts are daily practised to 
augment the banditti at Post Vincennes, by delusive promises 
of lands, bounty and clothing, from the officers appointed by 
General Clark. 

" We beg leave to suggest to the serious consideration of 
your excellency, the necessity of carrying into effect the treaty 
proposed in April ; for we fear, that the savages, when assem- 
bled, if they are not amused by a treaty, or kept in awe by a 
military force at Post Vincennes, will form combinations among 
themselves hostile to this country ; and before they disperse, 
may turn their arms against our scattered settlements in such 
force as to overwhelm them. To the superior wisdom and the 
paternal care of the heads of the commonwealth we take the 
liberty of submitting the matters herein mentioned, in full con- 
fidence, that every necessary measure will be immediately 
adopted : and have the honor to be, with every sentiment of 
respect, your excellency's most obedient, 

[Signed,] 

T. Mars-iiall, Caleb Wallace, Charles Ewing,. 

George Muter, John Craig, John Logan, 

Harry Innes, Chris. Greenup, John Edwards, 

Edmund Lyne, James Garrard, Richard Taylor^ 

Rich. C. Anderson, James Wilkinson, J. Brown." 



216 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

At Danville, a committee was appointed to wait on General 
Clark, " and receive from him such information as he thought 
proper to make respecting the establishment of the corps at 
Post Vincennes, of the seizure of Spanish property made at 
that place, and such other matters as they might think neces- 
sary." Here follows the report of the committee : 

♦'They find by enquiry from General Clark, and sundry 
papers submitted by him to their inspection, that a Board of 
field officers composed from the corps employed on the late 
Wabash expedition, did in council held at Post Vincennes, the 
8th of October, 1786, unanimously agree that a garrison at that 
place would be of essential service to the District of Kentucky, 
and that supplies might be had in the district more than suffi- 
cient for their support, by impressment or otherwise, under 
the direction of a commissary to be appointed for tliis pur- 
pose, pursuant to the authority vested in the field officers of 
the district by the Executive of Virginia. The same Board 
appointed Mr. John Craig, jun. a commissary of purchases; 
and resolved that one field officer and two hundred and fifty 
men, exclusive of the company of artillery to be commanded 
by Captain Valentine Thomas Dalton, be recruited to garrison 
Post Vincennes. That Colonel John Holder be appointed to 
command the troops in this service. 

"In consequence of these measures it appears to your com- 
mittee that a body of men have been enlisted and are now 
recruiting for one year: that General Clark hath taken the 
supreme direction of the corps, but by what authority doth 
not appear; and that the corps hath been further officered by 
appointments made by General Clark, who acknowledges that 
the seizure of the Spanish property was made by his order for 
the sole purpose of clothing and subsisting the troops ; and that 
the goods seized were appropriated in this way. That John 
Rice Jones, who acts as commissary to the garrison, had passed 
receipts for the articles taken. The General alleges that the 
troops were raised for the security of the district ; that he con- 
siders them subject to the direction of this committee, who 
may discharge them if they think proper, but conceives this 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 217 

measure may prevent the proposed treaty, and involve this 
country in a bloody war. He denies any intention of depre- 
dating on the Spanish possessions or property at the Illinois ; 
and declares that he never saw the intercepted letter from 
Thomas Green. That he understood Green's object was to 
establish a settlement at or near the Gaso river, under the 
authority of the state of Georgia; that his view was by encour- 
aging the settlement to obtain a small grant of land, and that 
he had no idea of molesting the Spaniards, or of attending 
Green in person. He informed the committee that the garri- 
son now at Post Vincennes is about one hundred strong, and 
that the merchants at the Illinois had determined to support it, 
for which purpose they had sent for the commissary Jones to 
receive provisions. That Major Bosseron was sent to the Illi- 
nois to advise the settlers there of certain seizures made at 
Natchez, of American property, by the Spanish commandant, 
and to recommend it to them to conciliate the minds of the 
Indians, and be prepared to retaliate any outrage the Spaniards 
might commit on their property; but by no means to com- 
mence hostilities. THOMAS TODD, Clk. Com."* 

The most important particulars of the principal seizure of 
Spanish propei'ty at Post Vincennes, are detailed in the depo- 
sition which follows: 

" The deposition of Daniel Neeves, being first sworn on the 
Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, deposeth and saith. That 
he, this deponent, was enlisted by a Captain Thomas Mason, 
as a soldier in the Wabash regiment; that he was summoned 
as one of a guard by a Captain Valentine T. Dalton, and was 
by him marched to a store ; and he the said Dalton by an inter- 
preter demanded of a Spanish merchant to admit him the said 
Dalton into his cellar. The Spaniard asked what he wanted. 
The said Dalton answered, he was sent by the commanding 
officer to search his cellar. It being at a late hour of the night, 
the Spaniard lighted a candle and opened his doors, and went 
and opened his cellar door. The said Dalton with several 

fcScc. Jour. Congress, iv. 311. 



218 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

others entered the cellar ; after some time he came out, and 
placed this deponent as a guard over the cellar, and took the 
rest of the guard to another store. That the succeeding day 
the said Dalton came with a number of others and plundered 
the cellar of a large quantity of peltry, wine, taffy, honey, tea, 
coffee, sugar, cordial, French brandy, and sundry other arti- 
cles, together with a quantity of dry goods, the particular arti- 
cles this deponent doth not at present recollect; that part of 
the goods was made use of to clothe the troops, the remainder 
with the other articles was set up at public auction and sold; 
that the sale was conducted by a certain John Rice Jones, who 
marched in the militia commanded by General Clark as a com- 
missary general. And further this deponent saith that he 
obtained a furlough, dated the 24th day of November, 1786, 
signed Valentine Thomas Dalton, captain commandant Wa- 
bash regiment, of which the following is a copy : * Daniel 
Neeves, a soldier in the Wabash regiment, has liberty to go 
on a furlough for two months from the date hereof; at the 
expiration he is to return to his duty, otherwise looked upon 
as a deserter. November 24, 1786. Valentine Thos. Dalton, 
captain commandant Wabash regiment. To all whom it may 
concern.' And further this deponent saith not. 

DANIEL NEEVES." 

" The above deposition was sworn to before me this 20th 
day of December, 1786. 

CHRISTOPHER GREENUP."* 

This deposition and the foregoing letters which refer to the 
proceedings of General Clark at Post Vincennes, and to the 
opinions of some of the western settlers on the subject of the 
navigation of the Mississippi-, were despatched from Danville 
to the Governor of Virginia. Here follows an act of the Coun- 
cil of Virginia, of the 28th of February, 1787. 

" In Council, February 28, 1787. 
" The Board having resumed the consideration of several 
letters bearing date the 22d day of December, 1786, and ad- 



*See. Jour. Congress, iv. 309. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 219 

dressed to the Governor from Danville, by Thomas Marshall 
and others, which said letters with the enclosm'es had been laid 
before them on Saturday last. 

The Board lament those despatches, pregnant as they are 
with subjects deeply interesting to our national character and 
quiet, an^d intended for the last Assembly, should for the first 
time, on the fifth day of this instant, have been handed to the 
Governor in Williamsburgh, on his late journey to Norfolk on 
public business. From the respectability of the names subscri- 
bed to those letters they confide in the following facts: 

1. — That the prosecution of the Treaty proposed to be held 
with the Indians, under the authority of Congress, will tend to 
the safety of our western settlements. 

2. — That the success of the Treaty would be forwarded by 
the appointment of some commissioners at least who are resi- 
dent in the parts of the country likely to be exposed to the 
incursions of the savages. 

3. — That General Clark has been and perhaps is now em- 
ployed in levying recruits, in nominating officers, and in im- 
pressing provisions for the support of the post at Post Vin- 
cennes ; and 

4. — That General Clark hath made a seizure of Spanish 
property without any authority for such an act. 

The Board therefore advise, 

1. — That copies of the letters aforesaid and their enclosures 
be forthwith transmitted to our delegates in Congress with an 
earnest request lo communicate them, in whole or in part, 
according to their discretion, immediately to that body, to 
urge the speediest arrangements for a treaty to be holden with 
the Indians in April next, under the sanction of the federal 
government; and to propose as commissioners, General James 
Wilkinson, Colonel Richard Clough Anderson, and Colonel 
Isaac Shelby. 

2. — That it be notified to General Clark, that this Board 
disavow the existence of a power derived from them to the 
said Clark to raise recruits, appoint officers, or impress pro- 
visions. 



230 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

3. — That as the seizure of Spanish property was never au- 
thenticated to this Board before the receipt of the said letters, 
so had it been known at a period sufficiently early for preven- 
tion, it would have been prevented. But that this offence 
against the law of nations having been committed, it becomes 
the executive to declare their displeasure at the act, and to 
cause the national honor to be vindicated by the institution of 
legal proceedings against all persons appearing to be culpable. 
That the Attorney General be consulted on the documents 
aforesaid, and requested to take himself, or call upon the At- 
torney General of Kentucky, as the case may require, to take 
such steps as may subject to punishment all persons guilty in 
the premises. That the said seizure of Spanish property be 
disclaimed by government in a special pioclamation. That a 
copy of this order be also sent to our delegates, [in Congress,] 
in order that they may, if it shall seem expedient, acquaint the 
minister of his Catholic majesty with these sentiments of the 
executive. And that another copy be forwarded to Thomas 
Marshall, esquire, and the other gentlemen who concurred in 
the letter aforesaid. All which several matters so advised, the 
Governor orders accordingly." 

By a resolution of Congress, of the 24th of April, 1787, the 
Secretary of War was directed to order the commanding offi- 
cer of the troops of the United States on the Ohio to take im- 
mediate and efficient measures "for dispossessing a body of 
men who had, in a lawless and unauthorized manner, taken 
possession of Post Vincennes in defiance of the proclamation 
and authority of the United States." * The correction of the 
erroneous reports concerning a supposed treaty between the 
United States and Spain, the timely measures which were 
adopted by some of the most distinguished citizens of Ken- 
tucky, the prompt action of the government of Virginia, and 
the resolution of Congress of the 24th of April, 1787, operating 
successively on the minds of the western settlers, fortunately 
prevented the breaking out of a war in which Spain and 



i 



*01d Journals, iv. 740. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 221 

France, bound together by a family compact, would have been 
opposed to the United States. 

On the 13th of July, 1787, Congress passed an Ordinance for 
the government of the Territory of the United States nortli- 
west of the river Ohio.* In the same legislative body, on the 
21st of July, 17S7, the following resolution was adopted: 

" Resolved, That the superintendant of Indian Affairs for the 
northern department, and in case he be unable to attend, then 
Colonel Josiah Harmar, immediately proceed to Post Vin- 
cennes, or some other place more convenient, in his opinion, 
for holding a treaty with the Wabash Indians, the Shawanees, 
and other hostile tribes: that he inform those Indians that Con- 
gress is sincerely disposed to promote peace and friendship be- 
tween their citizens and the Indians: that to this end, he is 
sent to invite them, in a friendly manner, to a treaty with the 
United States, to hear their complaints, to know the truth, and 
the causes of their quarrels with those frontier settlers ; f and 
having invited those Indians to the treaty, he shall make strict 
enquiry into the causes of their uneasiness and hostile proceed- 
ings, and form a treaty of peace with them, if it can be done 
on terms consistent with the honor and dignity of the United 
States." 

In Congress, on the 3d of October, 1787, the following reso- 
lution was passed: — "Whereas the time for which the greater 
part of the troops on the frontiers are engaged, will expire in 
the course of the ensuing year : 

Resolved, That the interests of the United States require 
that a corps of seven hundred troops should be stationed on 
the frontiers, to protect the settlers on the public lands from 
the depredations of the Indians ; to facilitate the surveying and 
selling the said lands, in order to reduce the public debt, and 
to prevent all unwarrantable intrusions thereon." 

On the 14th of November, 1787, the Secretary of War di- 

*See Appendix D. 

t"In my opinion our Indian Ali'airs have been ill managed. Indians have been 
murdered by our people in cold blood ; and no satisfaction given : nor are they (the In- 
dians) pleased with the avidity with which we seek to acquire their lands."— [Letter, da- 
ted December 14, 1786, from John Jay to Thomas Jefferson. 



222 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

rected General Harmar,* the commanding officer of the troops 
stationed on the borders of the Ohio, to endeavor to ascertain 
whether there was, at that time, any plan formed or forming 
among the western settlers for the invasion of the Spanish pos- 
sessions. " In case," said the Secretary to General Harmar, 
<'you shall receive such information on the subject as to re- 
move all doubt that such a design is on the point of execution, 
you will form your post of such strength, if in your power, as 
will be able by force to prevent the passage of the party. Pre- 
viously to exerting actual force you will represent, on behalf 
of the United States, to the persons conducting the enterprise, 
the criminality of their conduct and the obligation of the sove- 
reign authority to prevent, at any hazard, such an audacious 
proceeding." 

During the years 1787 and 1788, the commissioners of the 
United States did not succeed in their attempts to make a 
treaty with the hostile Indians who occupied the country on 
the northwestern side of the river Ohio. The hostile tribes 
insisted that the Ohio river should be the boundary between 
them and the United States. In the meantime General Har- 
mar erected a fortification at the mouth of the river Muskin- 
gum, reinforced a small garrison at the Falls of the Ohio, and 
secretly despatched confidential agents to diflferent parts of the 
country to ascertain the opinions of the western settlers on the 
subject of an invasion of the territories of Spain. Major John 
F. Hamtramck, of the United States army, was stationed at 
Post Vincennes, as commandant of that place. Among the 
first proclamations of that officer, there was one, of the 3d of 
October, 1787, issued to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors 
to Indians. 



* By an act of Congress, of July 31, 1787, Colonel Josiah Harmar was promoted to 
the rank of Brigadier General by brevet. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Before the deed of cession, of March 1st, 1784, the state of 
Virginia claimed the whole territory, lying northwest of the 
river Ohio and west of the state of Pennsylvania, extending 
northwardly to the northern boundary of the United States, 
as defined by the treaty of 17S3, and westwardly to the river 
Mississippi. The states of New York, Massachusetts and Con- 
necticut, also, by virtue of ancient royal charters, respectively 
claimed large territories lying north of the river Ohio and west 
and northwest of the western boundary of Pennsylvania. The 
claim of New York was, however, transferred to the United 
States, by a deed of cession, executed in Congress on the first 
day of March, I7S1. The claim of the state of Massachusetts 
was assigned to the United States, on the 19th day of April, 
1785 ; and on the 13th day of September, 1786, the state of 
Connecticut transferred to the United States her claim to lands 
in the west, reserving a tract of about three millions of acres, 
bounded on the north by Lake Erie, on the south by the forty- 
first degree of north latitude, and extending westwardly one 
hundred and twenty miles from the western boundary of Penn- 
sylvania. This tract was called the Western Reserve of Con- 
necticut. In the month of October, 1786, the Legislature of 
that state ordered a part of the tract, lying east of the river 
Cuyahoga, to be surveyed, and opened an office for the sale of 
the lands. In 1792, a tract containing about five hundred thou- 
sand acres of land, lying in the western part of the Reservation, 
was granted by Connecticut to certain citizens of that state, 
as a compensation for property burned and destroyed in the 
towns of New London, New Haven, Fairfield, and Norwalk, 



224 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

by the British troops in the course of the Revolutionary war. 
The tract thus granted was called the Fire Lands. On the 
30th of May, 1800, the jurisdictional claims of the state of 
Connecticut to all the territory called the Western Reserve of 
Connecticut was surrendered to the United States. 

On the 23d of July, 1787, Congress adopted, the following 
order, to wit : " That the Board of Treasury be authorized and 
empowered to contract with any person or persons for a grant 
of a tract of land which shall be bounded by the Ohio from the 
mouth of Scioto to the intersection of the western boundary of 
the seventh i-ange of townships now surveying ; * thence, by 
the said boundary, to the northern boundary of the tenth 
township from the Ohio ; thence, by a due west line, to Scioto ; 
thence, by the Scioto, to the beginning; upon the following 
terms to wit : The tract to be surveyed and its contents ascer- 
tained by the geographer, or some other officer of the United 
States, who shall plainly mark the said east and west line, and 
shall render one complete plat to the Board of Treasury, and 
another to the purchaser or purchasers. The purchaser or 
purchasers, within seven years from the completion of this 
work, to lay off the whole tract, at their own expense, into 
townships and fractional parts of townships, and to divide the 
same into lots, according to the land ordinance of the 20th of 
May, 1785 ; complete returns whereof to be made to the Trea- 
sury Board. The lot No. 16, in each township, or fractional 
part of a township, to be given perpetually for the purposes 
contained in the said ordinance. The lot No. 29, in each 
township or fractional part of a township, to be given perpet- 
ually for the purposes of religion. The lots No. 8, 11, and 26, 
in each township or fractional part of a township, to be reser- 
ved for the future disposition of Congress. Not more than 
two complete townships to be given perpetually for the purpo- 
ses of an university, to be laid off by the purchaser or purcha- 
sers, as near the centre as may be, so that the same shall be of 
good land, to be applied to the intended object by the legisla- 
ture of the state. The price to be not less than one dollar per 

*See Ordinance of 20th May, 1785- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 225 

acre for the contents of the said tract, excepting the reserva- 
tions and gifts aforesaid, payable in specie, loan office certifi- 
cates reduced to specie value, or certificates of liquidated debts 
of the United States, liable to a reduction by an allowance for 
bad land, and all incidental charges and circumstances what- 
ever; Provided, that such allowance shall not exceed, in the 
whole, one third of a dollar per acre. * * * Such of the pur- 
chasers as may possess rights for bounties of land to the late 
arm}^ to be permitted to render the same in discharge of the 
contract, acre for acre : Provided, that the aggregate of such 
rights shall not exceed one seventh part of the land to be paid 
for: and provided, also, that there shall be no future claim 
against the United States on account of the said rights. Not 
less than five hundred thousand dollars of the purchase money 
to be paid down upon closing the contract, and the remainder 
upon the completion of the work to be performed by the geog- 
rapher, or other officer on the part of the United States. 
Good and sufficient security to be given by the purchaser or 
purchasers for the completion of the contract on his or their 
part. The grant to be made on the full payment of the con- 
sideration money, and a right of entry and occupancy to be ac- 
quired immediately for so much of the tract as shall be agreed 
upon between the Board of Treasury and the purchasers." * 

On the 26lh of July, 17S7, Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop 
Sargent, acting as the agents of a company called " the Ohio 
Company of Associates," f addressed the following letter to 
the Board of Treasury of the United States: 

" New York, July 26, 1787. 
Gentlemen : We observe by the act of the 23d instant that 
your honorable Board is authorised to enter into a contract for 
the sale of a tract of land therein described, on certain condi- 
tions expressed in the act. As we suppose this measure has 
been adopted in consequence of proposals made by us, in be- 
half of ourselves and associates, to a committee of Congress, 

*01d Journals of Congress, 23(1 July, 1787. 
, tTlie "Ohio Company of Associates" was organized at Boston, and was composed 
chiefly of Revolutionary officers and soldiers Vide N. Am. Rev. vol. liii, p. 323. 

29 



226 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

we beg leave to inform you that we are ready to enter into a 
contract for the purchase of the lands described in the act; 
provided you can conceive yourselves authorized to admit of 
the following conditions, which in some degree vary from the 
report of the committee, viz: 

The subordinate surveys shall be completed as mentioned in 
the act, unless the frequency of Indian irruptions may render 
the same impracticable without a heavy expense to the com- 
pany. 

The mode of payment we propose, is half a million of dollars 
when the contract is executed; another half million when the 
tract as described is surveyed by the proper officer of the Uni- 
ted States ; and the remainder in six equal payments, computed 
from the date of the second payment. 

The lands assigned for the establishment of an university to» 
be as nearly as possible in the centre of the first million and a 
half of acres we shall pay for : — for, to fix it in the centre of 
the proposed purchase, might too long defer the establishment. 

When the second payment is made the purchasers shall re- 
ceive a deed for as great a quantity of land as a million of dol- 
lars will pay for, at the price agreed on : after which we will 
agree not to receive any further deeds for any of the lands 
purchased, only at such periods, and on such conditions as may 
be agreed on betwixt the Board and the purchasers. 

As to the security, which the act says shall be good and 
sufficient, we are unable to determine what those terms may 
mean in the contemplation of Congress, or of your honorable 
Board ; we shall, therefore, only observe that our private for- 
tunes, and that of most of our associates, being embarked in 
the support of the purchase, it is not possible for us to offer 
any adequate security but that of the land itself, as is usual in 
great land purchases. 

We will agree so to regulate the contracts, that we shall 
never be entitled to a right of entry or occupancy, but on the 
lands actually paid for, nor receive any deeds till our payments 
amount to a million of dollars, and then only in proportion to 
such payment. The advance we shall always be under without 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 227 

any formal deed, together with the improvements made on the 
lands, will, we presume, be ample security, even if it was not 
the interest as well as the disposition of the company to lay 
the foundation of their establishment on a sacred regard to the 
rights of property. If these terms are admitted we shall be 
ready to conclude the contract. 

We have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, for our- 
selves and associates, gentlemen, your ob't. humble serv'ts. 

MAN'H. CUTLER, 
WINTHROP SARGENT."* 
On the 27th of October, 1787, Manasseh Cutler and Win- 
throp Sargent, as agents for the " Ohio Company of Associ- 
ates," entered into a contract with the Board of Treasury for 
the purchase of one million five hundred thousand f acres of 
land, lying within the bounds of the tract which was offered 
for sale by the act of Congress, of the 23d July, 1787; and, on 
the same day, (27th October,) Messrs. Cutler and Sargent 
contracted with the Board of Treasury for the remainder of 
the tract. On the 29th of October, 1787, articles of agreement 
were made between Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, 
and their associates, of the one part, and William Duer and 
his associates, of the other part, for one half of the second pur- 
chase, which half was assigned to Duer and his associates, who 
agreed to interest Cutler, Sargent and their associates, in the 
profits of the sale of the lands in Europe or elsewhere; and 
Duer was authorized to make such sale, and to employ an 
agent for that purpose. In consequence of this agreement, 
Joel Barlow was sent to Europe, as the agent of the contract- 
ing parties, to sell the lands; and, for the purpose of aiding the 
sale, a company was formed under the name of the Scioto 
Company, to whom the lands were conveyed. Mr. Barlow, 
and the agent of this company, conjointly, disposed of a con- 

*01(1 Journals of Congress, 26th July, 1787. 

tThe quantity was afterwards reduced by consent of the parties to 964,285 acres, and 
tlic lands were conveyed, by letters patent under the seal of the United States, to Rufus 
Putnam, Manasseh Cutler, Robert Oliver, and Griffin Green, in trust for the persons com- 
posing "the Ohio Company of Associates." 



228 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

siderable quantity of the lands to companies and individuals in 
France. A small number of the purchasers emigrated from 
France to the United States, in the year 1790, and founded on 
the northwestern side of the river Ohio, a French settlement, 
which they called Gallipolis.* 

On the 7th of April, 1788, eight families, under the direction 
of General Rufus Putnam, (who was one of the "Ohio Company 
of Associates,") arrived at the mouth of the river Muskingum, 
where they made a settlement, and laid the foundation of the 
town of Marietta. 

On the 29th of August, 1787, before the first contract was 
fully made between the Board of Treasury of the United States 
and " the Ohio Company of Associates," John Cleves Symmes 
addressed the following petition to the President of Congress: 

" New York, 29th August, 1787. 

" To His Excellency the President of Congress, the petition 
of John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, sheweth: 

That your petitioner, encouraged by the resolutions of Con- 
gress, of the 23d and 27th of July last, stipulating the condition 
of a transfer of federal lands on the Scioto and Muskingum 
rivers, unto Winthrop Sargent and Manasseh Cutler, esquires, 
and their associates of New England, is induced, on behalf of 
the citizens of the United States, westward of Connecticut, 
who also wish to become purchasers of federal lands, to pray 
that the honorable the Congress will be pleased to direct that 
a contract be made by the honorable the Commissioners of the 
Treasury Board, with your petitioner, for himself and his asso- 
ciates, in all respects similar in form and matter to the said 
grant made to Messrs. Sargent and Cutler, differing only in 
quantity, and place where, and that instead of two townships 
for the use of an University, that only one be assigned for the 
benefit of an Academy. 

That by such transfer to your petitioner and his associates, 
on their complying with the terms of sale, the fee may pass of 
all the lands lying within the following limits, viz : Beginning 
at the mouth of the Great Miami river, thence, running up the 

*American State Papers, Public Lands, vol. i, 24 — Laws U. S. i, 456,492.— ii, 276. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 929 

Ohio, to the mouth of the Little Miami river; thence, up the 
main stream of the Little Miami river, to the place where a 
due west line, to be continued from the western termination of 
the northern boundary line of the grant to Messrs. Sargent, 
Cutler, and Company, shall intersect the said Little Miami 
river; thence, due west, continuing the said western line, to 
the place where the said line shall intersect the main branch 
or stream of the Great Miami river ; thence, down the Great 
Miami, to the place of beginning. 

JOHN C. SYMMES." 

The foregoing letter was referred to the Board of Treasury 
on the 2d of October, 1787; and on the I5th of October, 1788, 
a contract was made between the Board and Symmes and his 
associates, for the sale of a tract of land of one million of acres. 
In the contract the boundaries of Symmes' purchase were defi- 
ned as follows : " Beginning on the bank of the river Ohio at a 
spot exactly twenty miles distant along the several courses of 
the same from the place where the Great Miami empties itself 
into the said river Ohio; from thence, extending down the 
said river Ohio, along the several courses thereof, to the Great 
Miami river; thence, up the said river Miami, along the seve- 
ral courses thereof, to a place whence a line drawn due east 
will intersect a line drawn from the place of beginning afore- 
said, parallel with the general course of the Great Miami river, 
so as to include one million of acres within those lines and the 
said rivers ; and from that place, up the said Great Miami river, 
extending along such lines, to the place of beginning, contain- 
ing as aforesaid one million of acres." 

By an act of Congress, of the 12th of April, 1792, the Presi- 
dent of the United States was authorized, at the request of 
John Cleves Symmes, to alter the first contract between the 
Board of Treasury and the said Symmes and his associates, so 
that the tract of land described in that contract might extend 
" from the mouth of the Great Miami to the mouth of the Little 
Miami, and be bounded by the river Ohio on the south, by the 
Great Miami on the west, by the Little Miami on the east, and 
by a parallel of latitude on the north, extending from the Great 



930 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Miami to the Little Miami, so as to comprehend the proposed 
quantity of one million of acres: Provided, that the northern 
limits of the said tract shall not interfere with the boundary- 
line established by the treaty of Fort Harmar,* between the 
United States and the Indian nations." The quantity of one 
million of acres could not be included within the bounds pres- 
cribed by this act ; and Mr. Symmes and his associates, having 
encountered several unexpected and insurmountable obstacles, 
could not fulfil their contract with the Board of Treasury. 
The original purchase of one million of acres was therefore 
reduced to a tract of land bounded on the south by the river 
Ohio, on the west by the Great Miami river, on the east by 
the Little Miami river, and on the north by a parallel of lati- 
tude to be run from the Great Miami to the Little Miami so as 
to comprehend the quantity of three hundred and eleven thou- 
sand six hundred and eighty-two acres. For this tract of land 
letters patent, under the seal of the United States, were granted 
to Mr. Symmes and his associates, on the 30th of September, 
1794.t The settlement of Symmes' purchase was commenced 
in 1789 ; in the course of which year Fort Washington was 
erected by a detachment of troops under the command of 
Major John Doughty, on a portion of the ground which is now 
the site of Cincinnati ; and a few families settled on the rich 
bottom lands just below the mouth of the Little Miami river, 
where they laid the foundation of the town of Columbia. 
Sometime in the same year, a town, which was called Losanti- 
ville, was laid ofl' on the lands adjoining Fort Washington. 

Early in the year 1788, Major General Arthur St. Clair was 
appointed Governor of the Territory of the United States north- 
west of the river Ohio. St. Clair was a native of Scotland, 
from which country he came to the British colonies of North 
America, in 1755. He joined the Royal American or 60th 
British Regiment, and served under General Amherst at the 
taking of Louisbourg, in 1758. He carried a standard at the 

*See Appendix E. 

tAmerican State Papers, Public Lands, vol. i, 93, 115 Laws U. S. vol. i, 457, 494, 

495, 497;— vol. ii, 270, 287;— vol. iii, 264, 428. 502, 541, 554. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 231 

storming and capture of Quebec by the troops under General 
Wolfe, in 1759. Soon after the peace of 1763, he settled in 
Ligonier valley, in the western part of the province of Penn- 
sylvania, where he continued to reside until the commence- 
ment of the Revolutionary war, when, having received from 
Congress a commission of Colonel, he joined the American 
army with a regiment of seven hundred and fifty men. Hav- 
ing been promoted to the rank of Major General, he was tried 
by a Court Martial, in 1778, for evacuating Ticonderoga* and 
Mount Independence. He was, however, unanimously acquit- 
ted, with the highest honor, of all the charges which were 
brought against him ; and from this time, holding the rank of a 
Major General, he continued to act in the service of the Uni- 
ted States until the close of the war. In a letter to the honor- 
able William B. Giles, of Virginia, St. Clair wrote as follows : 
"In the year 1786 I entered into the public service in civil life, 
and was a member of Congress, and President of that body, 
when it was determined to erect a government in the country 
to the west, that had been ceded by Virginia to the United 
States ; and in the year 1788, the office of Governor was in a 
great measure forced on me. The losses I had sustained in the 
Revolutionary war, from the depreciation of the money and 
other causes, had been very great ; and my friends saw in this 
new government means that might be in my power to com- 
pensate myself, and to provide handsomely for my numerous 
family. They did not know how little I was qualified to avail 
myself of those advantages, if they had existed. I had neither 
taste nor genius for speculation in land : neither did I think it 
very consistent with the oflice." 

By the first instructions which Governor St. Clair received 
from Congress, in 1788, he was authorized and directed. First- 
ly : To examine carefully into the real temper of the Indians. 
Secondly : To remove, if possible, all causes of controversy, so 

♦On the evacuation of Ticonderoga, St. Clair said to Major James Williinson, "I know 
I could save my character by sacrificing the army; but were I to do so, I should forfeit that 
whicli the world could not restore, and wliich it cannot take away — the ajiprobation of 
my own conscience," — Wilkinson's memoirs, i, 85- 



232 HISTORICAL NOTIlS. 

that peace and harmony might be established between the Uni- 
ted States and the Indian tribes. Thirdly : To regulate trade 
among the Indians. Fom'thly: To neglect no opportunity that 
might offer of extinguishing the Indian rights to lands west- 
ward as far as the river Mississippi, and northward as far as the 
completion of the forty-first degree of north latitude. Fifthly: 
To use every possible endeavor to ascertain the names of the 
real head men and warriors of the several tribes, and to attach 
these men to the United States by every possible means. 
Sixthly : To make every exertion to defeat all confederations 
and combinations among the tribes, and to conciliate the white 
people inhabiting the frontiers towards the Indians.* In the 
month of July, 178S, Governor St. Clair arrived at the new 
town of Marietta, at the mouth of the river Muskingum, where 
he began to organize the government of the northwestern ter- 
ritory, according to the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787. 
At Marietta, in the county of Washington, before the close of 
the year 1788, the Governor and the Judges of the General 
Court of the Territory, (Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mit- 
chell Varnum, and John Cleves Symmes,) adopted and publish- 
ed various laws under the following titles, viz : 

I. — A law for regulating and establishing the mihtia in the 
territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio. 

II. — A law for establishing general Courts of Quarter Ses- 
sions of the Peace, (and therein of the powers of single Justi- 
ces,) and for establishing County Courts of Common Pleas, (and 
therein of the power of single Judges to hear and determine 
upon small debts and contracts,) and also a law for estaWishing 
the office of Sheriff, and for the appointment of Sheriffs: — 
Published on the 23d of August. 

III. — A law establishing a Court of Probate: — Published 
on the 30th of August. 

IV. — A law for fixing the terms of the General Court of the 
Territory of the United vStates northwest of the river Ohio :• 
Published on the 30th of August. 

iSccret Journals of Congress, i, 277. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 233 

This law was in the words following: — " The General Court 
for the territory of the United States northwest of the river 
Ohio, shall hold pleas, civil and criminal, at four certain peri- 
ods or terms in each and every year in such counties as the 
judges shall from time to time deem most conducive to the 
general good ; they giving timely notice of the place of their 
sitting: that is to say, upon the first Monday of February, 
May, October, and December. Provided, however, that but 
one term be holden in any one county in a year; and that all 
processes, civil and criminal, shall be returnable to said Court 
wheresoever they may be in said territory. And as circum- 
stances may so intervene as to prevent a session of the Court 
at the time and place fixed upon, it shall and may be lawful for 
the Court, to adjourn from time to time, by writ directed to 
the Sheriff" of the county ; and to continue all process accord- 
ingly: And in case neither of the Judges shall attend at the 
time and place aforesaid, and no writ be received by the Sher- 
iff", it shall be his duty to adjourn the Court from day to day 
during the first six days of the term; and then to the next 
term ; to which all processes shall be continued as aforesaid. 
Provided, however, that all issues in fact shall be tried in the 
county where the cause of action shall have arisen." 

V. — A law respecting oaths of office: — Published on the 
2d of September. 

VI. — A law respecting Crimes and Punishments: — Pub- 
lished on the 6th of September. By this statute, the crimes 
of treason, murder, and house-burning, (in cases where death 
ensued from such burning,) were respectively punishable by 
death. The crimes of burglary and robbery were each pun- 
ishable by whipping, (not exceeding thirty-nine stripes,) fine, 
and imprisonment for any term not exceeding forty years. 
For the crime of perjury the offender was punishable by a fine 
not exceeding sixty dollars, or whipping, not exceeding thirty- 
nine lashes, and disfranchisement, and standing in the pillory 
for a space of time not exceeding two hours. Larceny was 
punishable by fine or whipping, at the discretion of the Court. 

If the convict could not pay the fine of the court, it was lawful 
30 



234 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

for the sheriff, by the direction of the court, to bind such con- 
vict to labor for a term not exceeding seven years, to any suit- 
able person who would pay such fine. Forgery was punisha- 
ble by fine, disfranchisement, and standing in the pillory for a 
space of time not exceeding three hours. The following sec- 
tions are copied from the statute respecting crimes and pun- 
ishments : 

<' If any children or servants shall, contrary to the obedience 
due to their parents or masters, resist or refuse to obey their 
lawful commands, upon complaint thereof to a Justice of the 
Peace, it shall be lawful for such Justice to send him or them 
so offending, to the jail or house of correction, there to remain 
until he or they shall humble themselves to the said parent's 
or master's satisfaction. And if any child or servant shall, 
contrary to his bounden duty, presume to assault or strike his 
parent or master, upon complaint and conviction thereof, be- 
fore two or more Justices of the Peace, the offender shall be 
whipped not exceeding ten stripes." 

" If any person shall be convicted of drunkenness before one 
or more Justices of the Peace, the person so convicted shall be 
fined, for the first offence, in the sum of five dimes, and for 
every succeeding oflence, and upon conviction, in the sum of 
one dollar; and in either case, upon the offender's neglecting 
or refusing to pay the fine, he shall be set in the stocks for the 
space of one hour. Provided, however, that complaint be 
made to the Justice or Justices within two days next after the 
offence shall have been committed." 

" Whereas, idle, vain and obscene conversation, profane cur- 
sing and swearing, and more especially the irreverently men- 
tioning, calling upon, or invoking the Sacred and Supreme 
Being, by any of the divine characters in which he hath gra- 
ciously condescended to reveal his infinitely beneficent purpo- 
ses to mankind, are repugnant to every moral sentiment, sub- 
versive of every civil obligation, inconsistent with the orna- 
ments of polished life, and abhorrent to the principles of the 
most benevolent religion. It is expected, therefore, if crimes 
of this kind should exist, they will not find encouragement, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 235 

countenance, or approbation in this Territory. It is strictly- 
enjoined upon all officers and ministers of justice, upon parents 
and others, heads of families, and upon others of every descrip- 
tion, that they abstain from practices so vile and irrational; 
and that by example and precept, to the utmost of their power 
they prevent the necessity of adopting and publishing laws, 
with penalties upon this head. And it is hereby declared that 
Government will consider as unworthy its confidence all those 
who m.ay obstinately violate these injunctions." 

" Whereas mankind in every stage of informed society, have 
consecrated certain portions of time to the particular cultiva- 
tion of the social virtues, and the public adoration and worship 
of the common Parent of the Universe: and whereas a prac- 
tice so rational in itself and conformable to the divine precepts 
is greatly conducive to civilization as well as morality and pie- 
ty: and whereas for the advancement of such important and 
interesting purposes, most of the Christian world have set apart 
the first day of the week, as a day of rest from common labors 
and pursuits; it is tlierefore enjoined that all servile labor, 
works of necessity and charity only excepted, be wholly ab- 
stained from on said day." 

VII. — A law regulating Marriages: The third section of 
this law was in the words following: — "Previously to persons 
being joined in marriage as aforesaid, the intention of the par- 
ties shall be made known by publishing the same for the space 
of fifteen days at the least, either by the same being publicly 
and openly declared three several Sundays, holy days, or other 
days of public worship in the meeting in the towns where the 
parties respectively belong, or by publication in writing under 
the hand and seal of one of the Judges before mentioned, or of 
a Justice of the Peace within the county, to be affixed in some 
public place in the town wherein the parties respectively dwell; 
or a license shall be obtained of the Governor under his hand 
and seal, aiUhorizing the marriage of the parties without publi- 
cation, as is in this law before required." 

VIII. — -A law in addition to a law entitled "A law for reg* 
ulating and establishing the Militia in the territory of the Uni-' 



236 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

ted States northwest of the river Ohio." Published on the 
23d of November. 

IX. — A law appointing Coroners: — Published on the 21st 
of December. 

X. — A law limiting the times of commencing civil actions 
and instituting criminal prosecutions: — Published on the 28th 
of December. 

On the 9th day of January, 1789, at Fort Harmar, which 
stood at the mouth of the river Muskingum, Governor St. Clair 
made a treaty with a number of the sachems and warriors of 
the Six Nations,* and also a treaty with several different sa- 
chems and warriors of the Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa, Chip- 
pewa, Pottawattamie, and Sac nation of Indians, t These 
latter nations, however, refused, for reasons which will appear 
in a subsequent chapter, to acknowledge the validity of the 
treaty of Fort Harmar; and, early in the spring of 1789, small 
roving parties of Indians began to commit depredations on 
defenceless white settlements along the western frontiers of 
Virginia and Kentucky. On the 15th of June, 1789, General 
Knox, Secretary of War, made to the President of the United 
States a report relative to the Indians who resided in the terri- 
tory northwest of the river Ohio. In this report the Secretary 
said: "By information from Brigadier General Harmar, the 
commanding officer of the troops on the frontiers, it appears 
that several murders have been lately committed on the inhab- 
itants, by small parties of Indians probably from the Wabash 
country. Some of the said murders having been perpetrated 
on the south side of the Ohio, the inhabitants on the waters of 
that river are exceedingly alarmed, for the extent of six or 
seven hundred miles along the same. It is to be observed that 
the United States have not formed any treaties with the Wa- 
bash Indians ; on the contrary, since the conclusion of the war 
with Great Britain, hostilities have almost constantly existed 
between the people of Kentucky and the said Indians. The 
injuries and murders have been so reciprocal that it would be 



*See Appendix E. 
tSee Appendix E. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 237 

a point of critical investigation to know on which side they 
have been the greatest. Some of the inhabitants of Kentucky 
during the past year, roused by recent injuries, made an incur- 
sion into the Wabash country, and possessing an equal aver- 
sion to all bearing the name of Indians, they destroyed a num- 
ber of peaceable Piankeshaws who prided themselves in their 
attachment to the United States. Things being thus circum- 
stanced, it is greatly to be apprehended that hostilities may be 
so far extended as to involve the Indian tribes with whom the 
United States have recently made treaties. It is well known 
how strong the passion for war exists in the mind of a young 
savage, and how easily it may be inflamed, so as to disregard 
every precept of the older and wiser part of the tribes who 
may have a more just opinion of the force of a treaty. Hence, 
it results that unless some decisive measures are immediately 
adopted to terminate those mutual hostilities, they will proba- 
bly become general among all the Indians northwest of the 
Ohio. 

"In examining the question how the disturbances on the 
frontiers are to be quieted, two modes present themselves, by 
which the object might perhaps be effected: the first of which 
is by raising an army and extirpating the refractory tribes en- 
tirely: or, secondly, by forming treaties of peace with them, 
in which their rights and limits should be explicitly defined, 
and the treaties observed on the part of the United States with 
the most rigid justice, by punishing the whites who should 
violate the same. 

"In considering the first mode, an enquiry would arise, 
whether, under the existing circujnstances of affairs, the United 
States have a clear right, consistently with the principles of jus- 
tice and the laws of nature, to proceed to the destruction or ex- 
pulsion of the savages on the Wabash, supposing the force for 
that object easily attainable. It is presumable that a nation 
solicitous of establishing its character on the broad basis of 
justice, would not only hesitate at, but reject every proposition 
to benefit itself, by the injury of any neighboring community, 
however contemptible and weak it may be, either with respect 



238 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

to its manners or power. When it shall be considered that 
the Indians derive their subsistence chiefly by hunting, and 
that, according to fixed principles, their population is in pro- 
portion to the facility with which they procure their food, it 
would most probably be found that the expulsion or destruc- 
tion of the Indian tribes have nearly the same effect: for if 
they are removed from their usual hunting grounds, they must 
necessarily encroach on the hunting grounds of another tribe, 
who will not suffer the encroachment with impunity — hence 
they destroy each other. The Indians, being the prior occu- 
pants, possess the right of the soil. It cannot be taken from 
them unless by their free consent, or by the right of conquest 
in case of a just war. To dispossess them on any other prin- 
ciple, would be a gross violation of the fundamental laws of 
nature, and of that distributive justice which is the glory of a 
nation. But, if it should be decided, on an abstract view of 
the question to be just, to remove by force the Wabash Indians 
from the territory they occupy, the finances of the United 
States would not at present admit of the operation. 

" By the best and latest information it appears that, on the 
Wabash and its communications, there are from fifteen hun- 
dred to two thousand warriors. An expedition against them, 
with a view of extirpating them, or destroying their towns, 
could not be undertaken with a probability of success, with less 
than an army of two thousand five hundred men. The regular 
troops of the United States on the frontiers are less than six 
hundred : * of that number not more than four hundred could 
be collected from the posts for the purpose of the expedition. 
To raise, pay, feed, arm, and equip one thousand nine hundred 
additional men, with the necessary officers, for six months, and 
to provide every thing in the hospital and quartermaster's line, 
would require the sum of two hundred thousand dollars, a sum 
far exceeding the ability of the United States to advance, con- 
sistently with a due regard to other indispensable objects." 
On the 26th of August, 1789, about two hundred mounted 

♦Detachments of regular troops were stationed at Fort Pitt, Fort Harmar, Fort Wash- 
ington, Fort Steuben, (at the Falls of the Ohio,) and at Post Viucennes. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 239 

volunteers under the command of Colonel John Hardin, march- 
ed from the Falls of the Ohio to attack some of the Indian 
towns on the Wabash. This expedition returned to the Falls 
on the 28th of September, without the loss of a man ; having 
killed six Indians, plundered and burnt one deserted village, 
and destroyed a considerable quantity of corn. 

On the 14th of September, 1789, Governor St. Clair address- 
ed to President Washington a letter from which the following 
is an extract: — "The constant hostilities between the Indians 
who live upon the river Wabash and the people of Kentucky, 
must necessarily be attended with such embarrassing circum- 
stances to the government of the northwestern territory, that 
I am induced to request you will be pleased to take the matter 
into consideration, and give me the orders you may think pro- 
per. It is not to be expected, sir, that the Kentucky people 
will or can submit patiently to the cruelties and depredations 
of those savages. They are in the habit of retaliation, perhaps 
without attending pi^ecisely to the nations from which the inju- 
ries are received. They will continue to retaliate, or they will 
apply to the Governor of the northwestern territory (through 
which the Indians must pass to attack them) for redress. If 
he cannot redress them, (and in the present circumstances he 
cannot,) they also will march through that country to redress 
themselves, and the government will be laid prostrate. The 
United States, on the other hand, are at peace with several of 
the nations, and should the resentment of these people [the 
Kentuckians] fall upon any of them, which it is likely enough 
to happen, very bad consequences may follow. For it must 
appear to them [the Indians] that the United States either pay 
no regard to their treaties, or that they are unable or unwilling 
to carry their engagements into effect. * * * They will unite 
with the hostile nations, prudently preferring open war to a 
delusive and uncertain peace." 

By an act of Congress, of the 29th of September, 1789, the 
President of the United States was empowered to call forth 
the miUtia of the states respectively, for the protection of the 
frontiers against the incursions of hostile Indians ; and, on the 



240^ HISTORICAL NOTES. 

6th of Ottober, 1789, the President, in his official instructions 
to Governor-St. Clair said, " It is highly necessary that I should 
as soon as possible, possess full information, whether the Wa- 
bash and Illinois Indians are most inchned for war or peace. 
If for the former, it is proper that I should be informed of the 
means which will most probably induce them to peace. If a 
peace can be established with the said Indians on reasonable 
terms, the interests of the United States dictate that it should 
be effected as soon as possible. You will, therefore, inform the 
said Indians of the disposition of the General Government on 
this subject, and of their reasonable desire that there should be 
a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to a treaty. 

" If, however, notwithstanding your intimations to them, 
they should continue their hostilities, or meditate any incur- 
sion against the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania, or 
against any of the troops or posts of the United States, and it 
should appear to you that the time of execution would be so 
near as to forbid your transmitting the information to me, and 
receiving my orders thereon, then you are hereby authorized 
and empowered, in my name, to call on the Lieutenants of the 
nearest counties of Virginia and Pennsylvania, for such detach- 
ments of Militia as you may judge proper, not exceeding, how- 
ever, one thousand from Virginia and five hundred from Penn- 
sylvania. * * * The said Militia to act in conjunction with 
the Federal troops, in such operations offensive or defensive, 
as you and the commanding officer of the troops, conjointly, 
shall judge necessary for the public service, and the protection 
of the inhabitants and the posts. The said Militia, while in 
actual service, to be on the continental establishment of pay 
and rations : they are to arm and equip themselves, but to be 
furnished with public ammunition if necessary ; and no charge 
for the pay of said Militia will be valid unless supported by 
regular musters, made by a field or other officer of the Federal 
troops. 

"I would have it observed forcibly, that a war with the 
Wabash Indians ought to be avoided by all means consistently 
with the security of the troops and the national dignity. In 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 241 

the exercise of the present indiscriminate hostihties, it is ex- 
tremely difficult, if not impossible, to say that a war without 
further measures would be just on the part of the United States. 
But, if, after manifesting clearly to the Indians the disposition 
of the General Government for the preservation of peace, and 
the extension of a just protection to the said Indians, they 
should continue their incursions, the United States will be con- 
strained to punish them with severity. 

"You will, also, proceed, as soon as you can, with safety, to 
execute the orders of the late Congress, respecting the inhabi- 
tants at Post Vincennes, and at the Kaskaskias, and the other 
villages on the Mississippi. It is a circumstance of some im- 
portance, that the said inhabitants should, as soon as possible, 
possess the lands to which they are entitled, by some known 
and fixed principles." 

The last paragraph of the foregoing instructions was based 
upon the resolutions of Congress of the 20th June and 29th 
August, 17SS.*' By these resolutions provisions were made 
for confirming in their possessions and titles the French and 
Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers, about Kaskaskia and 
Post Vincennes, who, on or before the year 1783, had professed 
themselves citizens of the United States, or any of them. By 
the same resolutions a tract of four hundred acres of land was 
donated to each head of a family of this description of settlers. 

About the 1st of January, 1790, Governor St. Clair, with the 
Judges of the Supreme Court of the Territory, descended the 
river Ohio, from Marietta to Fort Washington, at Losantiville. 
At this place the Governor laid out the county of Hamilton, 
appointed magistrates and other civil officers for the adminis- 
tration of justice in that county, and changed the name of the 
town from Losantiville to Cincinnati. On the Sth of January, 
1790, St. Clair, and Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Terri- 
tory, arrived at Clarksville, whence they proceeded to the Illi- 
nois country, to organize the government in that quarter, and 
to carry into eflect the resolutions of Congress relative to the 
lands and settlers about Kaskaskia and Post Vincennes. Before 



♦Old Journals, rol. iv. 823 — 858 

31 



242 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the Governor left Clarksville, however, he sent to Major Ham- 
tramck, the commanding officer at Post Vincennes, despatches 
containing speeches which were addressed to the Indian tribes 
on the Wabash. Among the despatches there was also a letter 
(dated "Fort Steuben, Jan. 23, 1790,") which contained the 
following instructions : 

" It is with great pain that I have heard of the scarcity of 
corn which reigns in the. settlements about the Post [Vin- 
cennes.] I hope it has been exaggerated ; but it is represented 
to me that unless a supply of that article can be sent forward, 
the people must actually starve. Corn can be had here in any 
quantity: but can the people pay for it? I entreat you to en- 
quire into that matter, and if you find they cannot do without 
it, write to the Contractor's Agent here, to whom I will give 
orders to send forward such quantity as you may find to be 
absolutely necessary. They must pay for what they can of it ; 
but they must not be suffered to perish: and though I have no 
direct authority from the government for this purpose, I must 
take it upon myself." 

Governor St. Clair, on his arrival at Kaskaskia early in the 
year 1790, laid out the county of St. Clair, appointed magis- 
trates, and other civil officers, and, by a proclamation issued 
in March, directed the inhabitants to exhibit to him their titles 
and claims to the lands which they held, in order that they 
might be confirmed in their possessions. A considerable num- 
ber of claims and title deeds were accordingly exhibited, exam- 
ined, and decided upon; and orders of survey for such as were 
found authentic were issued ; which was necessary to be done 
before patents of confirmation could be made out.* The Gov- 
ernor, in a report which he made to the Secretary of State, in 
1790, said — "Orders of survey were issued for all the claims 
at Kaskaskia, that appeared to be founded agreeably to the 
resolutions of Congress ; and surveys were made of the greater 
part of them. A part only of those surveys, however, have 
been returned, because the people objected to paying the sur- 
veyor, and it is too true that they are ill able to pay. 

♦Report of Governor St. Clair, 1790. -, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 243 

"The Illinois country, as well as that upon the Wabash, has 
been involved in great distress ever since it fell under the 
American dominion. With great cheerfulness the people fur- 
nished the troops under General [George Rogers] Clark, and 
the Illinois regiment, with every thing they could spare, and 
often Avith much more than they could spare with any conve- 
nience to themselves. Most of the certificates for these supplies 
are still in their hands, unliquidated and unpaid; and, in many 
instances where application has been made for payment to the 
state of Virginia, under whose authority the certificates were 
granted, it has been refused. The Illinois regiment being dis- 
banded, a set of men pretending the authority of Virginia, 
embodied themselves, and a scene of general depredation and 
plunder ensued. To this succeeded three successive and extra- 
ordinary inundations from the Mississippi, which either swept 
away their crops, or prevented their being planted. The loss 
of the greatest part of their trade with the Indians, which was 
a great resource, came upon them at this juncture, as well as 
the hostile incursions of some of the tribes which had ever be- 
fore been in friendship with them: and to these was added the 
loss of their whole last crop of corn by an untimely frost. 
Extreme misery could not fail to be the consequence of such 
accumulated misfortunes." 

At this period the miserable condition of the French inhabi- 
tants about Kaskaskia and Cahokia, was pathetically described 
in a memorial which was dated " St. Clair County, June 9th, 
1790," addressed "-To His Excellency Arthur St. Clair, Gov- 
ernor and Commander in chief of the Territory of the United 
States northwest of the River Ohio," and signed by " P. Gib- 
ault, Priest," * and eighty-seven others. The following is an 
extract from the memorial: 

"The memorial humbly sheweth that by an act of Congress 
of June 20th, 1788, it was declared that the lands heretofore 
possessed by the said inhabitants should be surveyed at their 
expense ; and that this clause appears to thAm neither neces- 

*The same ecclesiastic, who, in 1778, visited Post Vincennes in the capacity of a me»- 
•enger from General Clark, and as a devoted friend of the United Statei. 



244 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

sary nor adapted to quiet the minds of the people. It does not 
appear necessary, because from the establishment of the colony 
to this day, they have enjoyed their property and possessions 
without disputes or lawsuits on the subject of their limits: that 
the surveys of them M^ere made at the time the concessions 
were obtained from their ancient Kings, Lords and Command- 
ants ; and that each of them knew what belonged to him with- 
out attempting an encroachment on his neighbor, or fearing 
that his neighbor would encroach on him. It does not appear 
adapted to pacify them, because, instead of assuring to them 
the peaceable possession of their ancient inheritances, as they 
have enjoyed it till now, that clause obliges them to bear ex- 
penses which, in their present situation, they are absolutely 
incapable of paying, and for the failure of which they must be 
deprived of their lands. 

" Your Excellency is an eye witness of the poverty to which 
the inhabitants are reduced, and of the total want of provisions 
to subsist on. Not knoioing where to find a morsel of bread to 
nournsh their families, by what means can they support the 
expense of a survey which has not been sought for on their 
parts, and for which, it is conceived by them, there is no ne- 
cessity ? Loaded with misery, and groaning under the weight 
of misfoi'tunes, accumulated since the Virginia troops entered 
their country, the unhappy inhabitants throw themselves under 
the protection of your Excellency, and take the liberty to solicit 
you to lay their deplorable situation before Congress; and, as 
it may be interesting for the United States to know exactly 
the extent and limits of their ancient possessions in order to 
ascertain the lands which are yet at the disposal of Congress, 
it appears to them, in their humble opinion, that the expense 
of the survey ought more properly to be borne by Congress, 
for whom alone it is useful, than by them who do not feel the 
necessity of it. Besides, this is no object for the United States; 
but it is great, too great, for a few unhappy beings who, your 
Excellency sees ycmrself, are scarcely able to support their piti- 
ful existence.''^ 



CHAPTER XIII. 

On the 5th of April, 1790, by order of Major Hamtramck, 
Antoine Gamelin started from Post Vincennes with the speech- 
es addressed by Governor St. Clair to the Wabash Indians. 
Mr. Gamelin delivered the speeches at all the principal Indian 
villages lying near to the borders of the river Wabash, and as 
far eastward as the Miami village of Ke-ki-ong-gay, which 
stood at the junction of the rivers St. Joseph and St. Mary's, 
about the site which is now occupied by the town of Fort 
Wayne. An extract from the journal* of the messenger, 
Gamelin, will serve, in part, to show the feelings with which 
the Indians regarded the overtures of peace that were made 
to them by Governor St. Clair. 

" The first village I arrived to [says IMr. GamelinJ is called 
Kik9,pouguoi. The name of the chief of this village is called 
Les Jamhes Croches. Him and his tribe have a good heart, 
and accepted the speech. The second village is at the river 
du Vermillion, called Piankeshaws. The first chief, and all 
the warriors, were well pleased with the speeehes concerning 
the peace: but they said they could not give presently a pro- 
per answer, before they consult the Miami nation, their eldest 
brethren. They desired me to proceed to the Miami town, 
[Ke-ki-ong-gay,] and, by coming back, to let them know what 
reception I got from them. The said head chief told me that 
he thought the nations of the lake had a bad heart, and were 
ill disposed for the Americans : that the speeches would not be 
received, particularly by the Shawanees at Miamitown. * * * 

*0n the 17th of May, 1790, before Major Hamtramck, at Post Vincennes, Mr. Game- 
lin, being put on his oath, swore that the statements contained in his journal were true. 



246 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

The 11th of April I reached a tribe of Kickapoos. The head 
chief and all the warriors being assembled, I gave them two 
branches of white wampum, with the speeches of His Excel- 
lency Arthur St. Clair, and those of Major Hamtramck. It 
must be observed that the speeches have been in another hand 
before me. The messenger could not proceed further than the 
Vermillion, on account of some private wrangling between the 
interpreter and some chief men of the tribe. Moreover, some- 
thing in the speech displeased them very much, which is inclu- 
ded in the third article, which says, ' / dM now make you the, 
offer of peace: accept it, or reject it, as you please.'' These 
words appeared to displease all the tribes to whom the first 
messenger was sent. They told me they were menacing; and 
finding that it might have a bad effect, I took upon myself to 
exclude them; and, after making some apology, they answered 
that he and his tribe were pleased with my speech, and that I 
could go up without danger, but they could not presently give^ 
me an answer, having some warriors absent, and without con- 
sulting the Ouiatenons, being the owners of their lands. They 
desired me to stop at Quitepiconna3, [Tippecanoe,] that they 
would have the chiefs and warriors of Ouiatenons and those of 
their nation assembled there, and would receive a proper an- 
swer. They said that they expected by me a draught of milk 
from the great chief, and the commanding officer of the Post, 
for to put the old people in good humor; also some powder 
and ball for the young men for hunting, and to get some good 
broth for their women and children: that I should know a 
bearer of speeches should never be with empty hands. They 
promised me to keep their young men from stealing, and to 
send speeches to their nations in the prairies for to do the 
same. 

" The 14th April the Ouiatenons and the Kickapoos were 
assembled. After my speech one of the head chiefs got up 
and told me — " You, Gamelin, my friend, and son-in-law, we 
are pleased to see in our village, and to hear by your mouth, 
the good words of the great chief. We thought to receive a 
few words from the French people; but I see the contrary. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 247 

None but the Big Knife is sending speeches to us. You know- 
that we can terminate nothing without the consent of our 
brethren the Miamies. I invite you to proceed to their village 
and to speak to them. There is one thing in your speech I do 
not like: I will not tell of it: even was I drunk, I would per- 
ceive it: but our elder brethren will certainlv take notice of it 
in your speech. You invite us to stop our young men. It is 
impossible to do it, being constantly encouraged by the British.' 
Another chief got up and said — 'The Americans are very flat- 
tering in their speeches : many times our nation went to their 
rendezvous. I was once myself. Some of our chiefs died on 
the route; and we always came back all naked: and you, 
Gamelin, you come with speech, with empty hands.' Another 
chief got up and said to his young men, 'If we are poor, and 
dressed in deer skins, it is our own fault. Our French traders 
are leaving us and our villages, because you plunder them ev- 
ery day; and it is time for us to have another conduct.' An- 
other chief got up and said, ' Know ye that the village of 
Ouiatenon is the sepulchre of all our a,ncestors. The chief of 
America invites us to go to him, if we are for peace. He has 
not his leg broke, having been able to go as far as the Illinois. 
He might come here himself; and we should be glad to see 
him at our village. We confess that we accepted the axe, but 
it is by the reproach we continually receive from the English 
and other nations, which received the axe first, calling us wo- 
men: at the present time they invite our young men to war. 
As to the old people, they are wishing for peace.' They could 
not give me an answer before they received advice from the 
Miamies, their elder brethren. 

"The ISth April I arrived at the river a I'Anguille, [Eel 
River.] The chief of the village,* and those of war were not 
present. I explained the speeches to some of the tribe. They 
said they were well pleased ; but they could not give me an 
answer, their chief men being absent. They desired me to 

♦This village stood on the north side of Eel river, about six miles above the junction 
of that stream with the Wabash. 



248 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

stop at their village coming back ; and they sent with me one 
of their men for to hear the answer of their eldest brethren. 

" The 23d April I arrived at the Miami town. The next 
day I got the Miami nation, the Shawanees, and Delawares, 
all assembled. I gave to each nation two branches of wam- 
pum, and began the speeches, before the French and English 
traders, being invited by the chiefs to be present, having told 
them myself I would be glad to have them present, having 
nothing to say against any body. After the speech, I showed 
them the treaty concluded at Muskingum [Fort Harmar,] be- 
tween his Excellency Governor St. Clair and sundry nations, 
which displeased them. I told them that the purpose of this 
present time was not to submit them to any condition, but to 
offer them the peace, which made disappear their displeasure. 
The great chief told me that he was pleased with the speech ; 
that he would soon give me an answer. In a private discourse 
with the great chief, he told me not to mind what the Shawa- 
nees would tell me, having a bad heart, and being the perturb- 
ators of all the nations. He said the Miamies had a bad name, 
on account of mischief done on the river Ohio ; but he told me 
it was not occasioned by his young men, but by the Shawanees; 
his young men going out only for to hunt. 

** The 25th of April, Blue Jacket, chief warrior of the Shaw- 
anees, invited me to go to his house, and told me, 'My friend, 
by the name and consent of the Shawanees and Delawares I 
will speak to you. We are all sensible of your speech, and 
pleased with it : but, after consultation, we cannot give an an- 
swer without hearing from our father at Detroit; and we are 
determined to give you back the two branches of wampum, 
and to send you to Detroit to see and hear the chief, or to stay 
here twenty nights for to receive his answer. From all quar- 
ters we receive speeches from the Americans, and not one is 
alike. We suppose that they intend to deceive us. Then take 
back your branches of wampum.' 

" The 26th, five Pottawattamies arrived here with two negro 
men, which they sold to English traders. The next day I went 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 249 

to the great chief of the Miamies, called Le Gris. His chief 
warrior was preseijt. I told him how I had been served by 
the Shawanees. He answered me that he had heard of it : that 
the said nations behaved contrary to his intentions. He desi- 
red me not to mind those strangers, and that he would soon 
give me a positive answer. 

" The 2Sth April, the great chief desired me to call at the 
French trader's and receive his answer. 'Don't take bad,' 
said he, ' of what I am to tell you. You may go back when 
you please. We cannot give you a positive answer. We 
must send your speeches to all our neighbors, and to the Lake 
nations. We cannot give a definitive answer without consult- 
ing the commandant at Detroit.' And he desired me to ren- 
der him the two branches of wampum refused by the Shawa- 
nees; also, a copy of speeches in writing. He promised me 
that, in thirty nights, he would send an answer to Post Vin- 
cennes, by a young man of each nation. He was well pleased 
with the speeches, and said to be M'^orthy of attention, and 
should be communicated to all their confederates, having re- 
solved among them not to do amj thing without an unanimous 
consent. I agreed to his requisitions, and rendered him the 
two branches of wampum, and a copy of the speech. After- 
wards, he told me that the Five Nations, so called, or Iroquois, 
were training something; that five of them, and three Wyan- 
dots, were in this village with branches of wampum. He 
could not tell me presently their purpose ; but he said I would 
know of it very soon. 

" The same day Blue Jacket, chief of the Shawanees, invited 
me to his house for supper; and, before the other chiefs, told 
me that, after another deliberation, they thought necessary that 
I should go myself to Detroit, for to see the commandant, who 
would get all his children assembled for to hear my speech. I 
told them I would not answer them in the night: that I was 
not ashamed to speak before the sun. 

" The 29th April I got them all assembled. I told them that 
I was not to go to Detroit: that the speeches were directed to 
the nations of the river Wabash and the Miami ; and that, for^ 
32 



250 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

to prove the sincerity of the speech, and the heart of Governor 
St. Clair, I have willingly given a copy of the speeches, to be 
shown to the commandant of Detroit: and, according to a 
letter wrote by the commandant of Detroit to the Miamies, 
Shawanees, and Delawares, mentioning to you to be peaceable 
with the Americans, I would go to him very willingly, if it was 
in my directions, being sensible of his sentiments. I told them 
I had nothing to say to the commandant; neither him to me. 
You must immediately resolve, if you intend to take me to 
Detroit, or else I am to go back as soon as possible. Blue 
Jacket got up and told me, ' My friend, we are well pleased 
with what you say. Our intention is not to force you to go to 
Detroit: it is only a proposal, thinking it for the best. Our 
answer is the same as the Miamies. We will send, in thirty 
nights, a full and positive answer, by a young man of each na- 
tion, by writing to Post Yincennes.' In the evening. Blue 
Jacket, chief of the Shawanees, having taken me to supper 
wdth him, told me, in a private manner, that the Shawanee 
nation was in doubt of the sincerity of the Big Knives, so cal- 
led, having been already deceived by them. That they had 
first destroyed their lands, put out their tire, and sent away 
their young men, being a hunting, without a mouthful of meat : 
also, had taken away their women ; wherefore, many of them 
would, with great deal of pain, forget these affronts. Moreo- 
ver, that some other nations were apprehending that offers of 
peace would, may be, tend to take away, by degrees, their 
lands; and would serve them as they did before: a certain 
proof that they intend to encroach on our lands, is their new 
settlement on the Ohio. If they don't keep this side [of the 
Ohio] clear, it wall never be a proper reconcilement with the 
nations Shawanees, Iroquois, ^Yyandots, and, perhaps many 
others. Le Gris, chief of the Miamies, asked me, in a private 
discourse, w^iat chief had made a treaty with the Americans 
at Muskingum, [Fort Harmar.] I answered him that their 
names were mentioned in the treaty. He told me he had 
heard of it some time ago; but they are not chiefs, neither 
delegates, who made that treaty : they are only young men, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 251 

who, without authority and instructions from their chiefs, have 
concluded that treaty, which will not be approved. They went 
to the treaty clandestinely, and they intend to make mention 
of it in the next council to be held. 

" The 2d of May I came back to the river a I'Anguille. One 
of the chief men of the tribe being witness of the council at 
Miami town, repeated the whole to them; and whereas the 
first chief was absent, they said they could not for present time 
give answ^er; but they were willing to join their speech to those 
of their eldest brethren. 'To give you proof of an open heart, 
we let you know that one of our chiefs is gone to war on the 
Americans ; but it was before we heard of you ; for certain 
they would not have been gone thither.' They also told me 
that a few days after I passed their village seventy warriors, 
Chippewas and Ottawas from Michilimackinack, arrived there ; 
some of them were Pottawattamies, who, meeting in their 
route, the Chippewas and Ottawas, joined them. 'We told 
them what we heard by you : that your speech is fair and true. 
We could not stop them from going to war. The Pottawat- 
tamies told us, that, as the Chippewas and Ottawas were more 
numerous than them, they were forced to follow them.' 

" The 3d of May I got to the Weas. They told me that 
they were waiting for an answer from their eldest brethren. 
* We approve very much our brethren for not to give a defini- 
tive answer, without informing of it all the Lake Nations: that 
Detroit was the place where the fire was lighted: then it ought 
first to be put out there: that the English commandant is their 
father, since he threw down our French father : they could do 
nothing without his approbation.' 

" The 4th of May I arrived at the village of the Kickapoos. 
The chief, presenting me two branches of wampum, black and 
white, said, ' My son, we cannot stop our young men from 
going to war. Every day some set off clandestinely for that 
purpose. After such behaviour from our young men, we are 
ashamed to say to the great chief at the Illinois and of the 
Post Vincennes, that we are busy about some good affairs for 
the reconcilement: but be persuaded that we will speak to 



252 HISTORICAL I^OTES. 

them continually concerning the peace; and that, when our 
eldest brethren will have sent their answer, we will join ours 
to it.' 

" The 5th of May I arrived at Vermillion. I found nobody 
but two chiefs : all the rest were gone a hunting. They told 
me they had nothing else to say but what I was told going up." 

Early in the month of June, 1790, Governor St. Clair, being 
at Kaskaskia, received from Major Hamtramck, despatches 
which induced him to believe that there was not the least pro- 
bability of making a treaty of peace with the Miami Indians 
and their confederates.* He therefore determined to return, 
by water, to the head quarters of General Harmar, at Fort 
Washington, and there to consult with that officer upon the 
means of carrying an expedition against the hostile Indians. 
He left Kaskaskia on the 11th of June, and arrived at Fort 
Washington on the 13th of July. Before his departure from 
the former place he committed to the Secretary of the Terri- 
tory, Winthrop Sargent, the execution of the resolutions of 
Congress relative to the lands and settlers on the river Wabash, 
and directed that officer to proceed to Post Vincennes, lay out 
a county there, establish the miHtia, and appoint the necessary 
civil and military officers. 

Mr. Sargent, upon whom the duties of Governor thus de- 
volved, proceeded immediately from Kaskaskia to Post Vin- 
cennes, where he laid out the county of Knox, appointed vari- 
ous civil and military officers, organized the militia, notified 
the inhabitants to present their claims to lands, and carried the 
resolutions of Congress into effect, as to all the claims to which 
those resolutions could be clearly applied. "Although," (says 
Mr. Sargent, in a report which he made to President Wash- 

*ln one of these despatches, dated " Post Vincennes, May 22d, 1790," Major Ham- 
tramck wrote as follows: — •' I now enclose the proceedings of Mr. Gamelin, by which 
your Excellency ran have no great hopes of bringing the Indians to a peace with the Uni- 
ted States. The 8th of May Gamelin arrived, and on the 11th some merchants arrived, and 
informed me, that, as soon as Gamelin had passed their villages on his return, all the Indians 
had gone to war: tliat a large party of Indians from Michilimackinack, and some Potta- 
wattamies had gone to Kentucky: and that three days after Gamelin had left the Miami 
[village] an American was brought there and burnt." 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 253 

ington, on the 31st of July, 1790,) "the lands and lots which 
were awarded to the inhabitants appeared from very good 
oral testimony to belong to those persons to whom they were 
awarded, either by original grants.^ purchase, or inheritance, 
yet there was scarcely one case in twenty where the title was 
complete, owing to the desultory manner in which public busi- 
ness had been transacted, and some other unfortunate causes. 
The original concessions by the French and British command- 
ants were generally made upon a small scrap of paper which 
it has been customary to lodge in the Notary's office, who has 
seldom kept any book of record, but committed the most im- 
portant land concerns to loose sheets, which, in process of 
time, have come into the possession of persons that have fraud- 
ulently destroyed them, or, unacquainted with their conse- 
quence, innocently lost or trifled them away; for by the 
French usage they are considered as family inheritances, and 
often descend to women and children. In one instance, and 
during the government of Mr. St. Ange here, a royal Notary 
ran off with all the public papers in his possession, as by a 
certificate produced to me. And I am very sorry further to 
observe that in the office of Mr. Le Grand, which continued 
from the year 1777 to 1787, and where should have been the 
vouchers for important land transactions, the records have 
been so falsified, and there is such gross fraud and forgery as 
to invalidate all evidence and information which I might oth- 
erwise have acquired from his papers." 

On the 13th of July, 1790, there were one hundred and for- 
ty-three heads of families at Post Vincennes, who were resi- 
dents of that place on or before the year 1783. While the 
acting Governor was taking measures to confirm these ancient 
settlers in their possessions and rights, he received a petition 
signed by eighty Americans, praying for the confirmation of 
various grants of land which had been made by the Court of 
Post Vincennes, between the years 1779 and 1787. The 
French inhabitants also laid before Mr. Sargent a petition on 
the same subject ; and when that officer requested some of the 
magistrates of the Court of Post Vincennes to give him their 



254 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

t 

reasons for having assumed the power to dispose of lands, he 
received the following answer: 

" Post Vincennes, July 3, 1790. 
To the honorable Winthrop Sargent, esquire. Secretary in 
and for the Territory of the United States northwest of the 
river Ohio, and vested with all the powers of Governor and 
commander in chief: 

Sir: — As you have given verbal orders to the magistrates 
who formerly composed the Court of the district of Post Vin- 
cennes, under the jurisdiction of the state of Virginia, to give 
you their reasons for having taken upon them to grant conces- 
sions for the lands within the district, in obedience thereto, 
we beg leave to inform you that their principal reason is, that 
since the establishment of this country, the commandants have 
always appeared to be vested with the power to give lands. 
Their founder, Mr. Vincennes, began to give concessions, and 
all his successors have given lands and lots. Mr. Legras was 
appointed commandant of Post Vincennes by the lieutenant 
of the county, John Todd, who was, in the year 1779, sent by 
the state of Virginia for to regulate the government of the 
country, and who substituted Mr. Legras with his power. In 
his absence, Mr. Legras, who was then commandant, assumed 
that he had, in quality of commandant, authority to give lands 
according to the ancient usages of other commandants ; and 
he verbally informed the Court of Post Vincennes that, when 
they would judge it proper to give lands or lots to those who 
should come into the country to settle, or otherwise, they 
might do it; and that he gave them permission so to do. 
These are the reasons that we acted upon: and if we have 
done more than we ought, it was on account of the little 
knowledge which we had of public affairs. 

F. BOSSERON, 
L. EDELINE, 
PIERRE GAMELIN, 

his 
PIERRE X QUEREZ." 
mark* 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 255 

By an act of Congress of the 3d March, 1791,* the Governor 
of the Territory of the United States northwest of the river 
Ohio, was empowered, in cases where lands had been actually 
improved and cultivated under a supposed grant for the same, 
to confirm to the persons who made such improvements, their 
heirs and assigns, the lands supposed to have been granted; 
not, however, exceeding the quantity of four hundred acres to 
any one person. 

In the course of the summer of 1790, the acting Governor, 
Sargent, and the Judges of the Territory, John Cleves Symmes 
and George Turner, adopted and published three statutes bear- 
ing the following titles, viz: 

I. — "An act to prohibit the giving or selHng intoxicating 
liquors to Indians, residing in, or coming into the Territory of 
the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and for pre- 
venting foreigners from trading with Indians therein. Passed 
at Vincennes, the nineteenth day of July, 1790." 

II. — "An act prohibiting the sale of spirituous and other 
intoxicating liquors to soldiers in the service of the United 
States, being within ten miles of any military post within the 
Territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio; 
and to prevent the selling or pawning of arms, ammunition, 
clothing and accoutrements. Passed at Vincennes, the twenty- 
sixth day of July, in the year of Christ, 1790." 

III. — "An act for suppressing and prohibiting every species 
of gaming for money or other property, and for making void 
contracts and payments made in consequence thereof, and for 
restraining the disorderly practice of discharging arms at cer- 
tain hours and places. Passed at Vincennes, the fourth day of 
August, in the year of Christ, 1790." 

[The preamble and first section of this act are in the words 
following, viz. — " Whereas the population, happiness and pros- 
perity of all countries, especially infant communities, necessa- 
rily depend upon the sobriety and industry of the people, and 
their attention to the moral and political duties of life, without 
which neither the great ends of society can be answered, nor 

♦ liOwa of the U. S. vol. ii, p. 2.TT. 



256 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the blessings of good government be felt : And whereas many 
pernicious games have been publicly practised in this Territory 
tending to the corruption of morals and the increase of vice 
and idleness, and by v^rhich the honest and unsuspecting citizen 
may be defrauded, and deserving famihes be reduced to beg- 
gary and want: Section I. Be it therefore enacted, That if any 
person or persons within this Territory, shall on his, her, or 
their account, or on the account of any other person or per- 
sons, publicly set up, permit, or suffer, or cause or procure to 
be publicly set up, permitted or suffered any species of gaming, 
play or pastime whatever, whereby money or other property 
shall be betted, won or lost, or by reason whereof the person 
so publicly permitting the same, shall or may derive any benefit 
or advantage, in money, goods, or other property, as a consid- 
eration for permission to play or bet thereat, each and every 
person so oftending shall forfeit and pay for every such offence 
of which he or she shall be convicted, the sum of two hundred 
dollars, to be recovered with costs, by information, indictment 
or action of debt, in any court of record where the same shall 
be cognizable."] 

On the 33d of July, 1790, Mr. Sargent received from the 
principal inhabitants of Vincennes, the following communica- 
tion; 

" Vincennes, July 23, 1790. 
To the honorable Winthrop Sargent, Esquire, Secretary of the 
Territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, 
and now vested with all the powers of Governor and Com- 
mander in chief thereof: — 

The citizens of the town of Vincennes approach you, sir, to 
express as well their personal respect for your honor, as their 
full approbation of the measures you have been pleased to pur- 
sue in regard to their government and the adjustment of their 
claims, as inhabitants of the Territory over which you at pre- 
sent preside. While we deem it a singular blessing to behold 
the principles of free government unfolding among us, we cher- 
ish the pleasing reflection that our posterity will also have 
cause to rejoice at the political change now originating. A 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 257 

free and efficient government, wisely administered, and foster- 
ed under the protecting wings of an august union of states, 
cannot fail to render the citizens of this wide extended terri- 
tory securely happy in the possession of every public blessing. 
We cannot take leave, sir, without offering to your notice a 
tribute of gratitude and esteem which every citizen of Vin- 
cennes conceives he owes to the merits of an officer [Major 
Hamtramck] who has long commanded at this post. The un- 
settled situation of things for a series of years previous to this 
gentleman's arrival, tended in many instances to derange, and 
in others to suspend, the operations of those municipal customs 
by which the citizens of this town were used to be governed. 
They were in the habit of submitting the superintendence of 
their civil regulations to the officer who happened to command 
the troops posted among them. Hence, in the course of the 
late war, and from the frequent change of masters, they labor- 
ed under heavy and various grievances. But the judicious and 
humane attention paid by Major Hamtramck, during his whole 
command, to the rights and feelings of every individual craving 
his interposition, demands, and will always receive, our warm- 
est acknowledgments. 

We beg you, sir, to assure the supreme authority of the 
United States of our fidelity and attachment; and that our 
greatest ambition is to deserve its fostering care, by acting 
the part of good citizens. 

By order, and on behalf of the citizens of Vincennes. 

Antoine Gamelin, Magistrate, 

Pierre Gamelin, do. 

Pead Gamelin, do. 

James Johnson, do. 

Louis Edeline, do. 

Luke Decker, do. 

Francis Bosseron, do. 

Francis Vigo, Major Comd't. of Militia, 

Henry Vanderburgh, Major of Militia." 
The civil and military officers who signed the foregoing com- 
munication received the following answer from Mr. Sargent. 
33 



258 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

" ViNCENNEs, July 25th, 1790. 

Gentlemen: — Next to that happiness which I derive from a 
consciousness of endeavoring to merit the approbation of the 
sovereign authority of the United States by a faithful discharge 
of the important trusts committed to me, is the grateful plaudit 
of the respectable citizens of this Territory: And be assured, 
gentlemen, that I receive it from the town of Vincennes, upon 
this occasion, with singular satisfaction. 

In an event so interesting and important to every individual 
as is the organization of civil government, I regret exceedingly 
that you have been deprived of the wisdom of our worthy 
Governor. His extensive abilities and long experience in the 
honorable walks of public life, might have more perfectly estab- 
lished that system which promises to you and posterity such 
political blessings. It is certain, gentlemen, that the govern- 
ment of the United States is most congenial to the dignity of 
human nature, and the best possible palladium for the lives and 
property of mankind. The services of Major Hamtramck to 
the public, and his humane attention to the citizens while in 
command here, have been highly meritorious; and it is with 
great pleasure that I have officially expressed to him my full 
approbation thereof. 

Your dutiful sentiments of fidelity and attachment to the 
General Government of the United States, shall be faithfully 
transmitted to their august President. 

With the warmest wishes for the prosperity and welfare of 
Vincennes, I have the honor to be, gentlemen," 

Your most obedient, humble servant, 

WINTHROP SARGENT." 

During the spring and summer of the year 1790, numerous 
small parties of Indians continued to wage an irregular war 
against emigrating families and settlers, along the borders of 
the river Ohio, from its mouth to the neighborhood of Pitts- 
burgh. Many emigrants, while they were descending the river 
in boats, were attacked and killed, or taken and carried into 
captivity. In a letter, dated "Lexington, [Ky.] 7th April, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 259 

1790," Brio-adier General James Wilkinson wrote to General 
Harmar, as follows : — "I write to you at the public request, 
on a subject deeply interesting to Kentucky, our national hon- 
or, and to humanity. For more than one month past a party 
of savages has occupied the northwestern bank of the Ohio, a 
few miles above the mouth of Scioto, from whence they make 
attacks upon every boat which passes, to the destruction of 
much property, the loss of many lives, and the great annoy- 
ance of all intercourse from the northward. By very recent 
accounts, we are apprised that they still continue in force at 
that point, and that their last attack was made against five 
boats, one of which they captured. It is the general, and I 
conceive a well founded opinion, that if this party is not dis- 
lodged and dispersed, the navigation of the Ohio must cease. 
In a case so very critical, the people of this district conceive 
themselves justified in appealing to arms, because their dearest 
interests, and the lives of their brethren are at hazard; but 
being extremely unwilling to proceed, except in a legal, regu- 
lar, and authorized way, they call upon you for your advice, 
succor, and assistance, in the hope and the expectation, that 
you will be able to co-operate with a detachment of the troops 
under your command, and carry an immediate expedition a- 
gainst the before mentioned party of savages, from Limestone,* 
where it is proposed to rendezvous a body of militia volun- 
teers." 

On the 18th of April, 1790, General Harmar, (at the head 
of one hundred regular troops and about two hundred and 
thirty volunteers from Kentucky, under the command of Gen- 
eral Charles Scott,) marched from Limestone, for the purpose 
of making a circuitous route by striking the Scioto at a point 
several miles up that river, and marching thence to its mouth, 
in order, if possible, to intercept some of the hostile Indians. 
On this expedition four Indians were discovered, and killed, 
and scalped, by a small detachment of the militia under Gene- 
ral Scott. In a letter, dated " June 9th, 1790," and addressed 
to the Secretary of War, General Harmar said, " At the 

*Maysvillc, Kentucky, 



260 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

solicitation of the inhabitants of Kentucky, I was induced to 
endeavor to break up a nest of vagabond Indians, who had 
infested the river, and seemed to make it an object to establish 
themselves near the mouth of the Scioto, in order to interrupt 
the navigation of the Ohio, and to plunder and murder the 
emigrants. I am sorry that my endeavors were unsuccessful, 
as the villains had retreated. Wolves might as well have been 
pursued. Every exertion in my power was made without ef- 
fect. * * * On the first day's march four moccasin tracks were 
discovered. General Scott detached a small party of horsemeUj 
who fell in with the savages, killed them, and brought the four 
scalps into Limestone." 

When Governor St. Clair arrived at Fort Washington, from 
Kaskaskia, he determined, after consulting with General Har- 
mar, to send a strong expedition against the Indian towns 
about the head waters of the river Wabash. Being vested 
with authority by the President of the United States to call 
for one thousand militia from Virginia, and five hundred from 
Pennsylvania, he addressed circular letters on the 15th of July, 
1790, to several of the county lieutenants of the western coun- 
ties of those states. Virginia, of which Kentucky then formed a 
part, was called upon to furnish the following numbers of men : 

The county of Nelson, . . 125>| ^^ rendezvous at Fort Steuben, 
" Lincoln, . l2o V ^ ^j^^ ^^^^ ^^ September. 
« " Jeflferson, . 50J 



300 

.Madison, 125^ 
Mercer, . 125 
Fayette, 200 



(( 



To rendezvous at Fort Wash- 
Bourbon, 125 f ington on the 15th September. 
Woodford, 85 i 
Mason, 40j 



700 

Pennsylvania was requested to furnish for the expedition the 
following numbers of men : 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 261 



The county of Washington, 220 "^ To assemble at McMahen's 

.. ,--J I o, 

Allegheny, 60J September. 



" " Fayette, 110 •. creek, four miles below 

Westmoreland, 110 i Wheeling, on the 3d of 



500 

The United States' regular troops in the west were estima- 
ted, by General Harmar, at four hundred effective men. The 
militia were designed to act in concert with these troops ; and 
the manner of employing the whole force was arranged thus: 
Three hundred of the militia of Virginia were ordered to ren- 
dezvous at Fort Steuben, and, with the garrison of that fort, 
to march to Vincennes and join Major Hamtramck, who had 
orders to call for aid from the militia of Vincennes, and to 
move up the Wabash and attack any of the Indian villages on 
that river to which his force might be equal. The remaining 
twelve hundred of the militia were ordered to assemble at Fort 
Washington, and to join the regular troops at that post under 
the command of General Harmar. 

On the 19th of September, Governor St. Clair, in obedience 
to the instructions of the President of the United States, sent 
the following letter to the British commandant at Detroit: 

"Marietta, 19th September, 1790. 

" Sir: As it is not improbable that an account of the military 
preparations going forward in this quarter of the country may 
reach you, and give you some uneasiness, while the object to 
which they are to be directed is not perfectly known to you, 
I am commanded by the President of the United States to give 
you the fullest assurances of the pacific disposition entertained 
towards Great Britain and all her possessions; and to inform 
you explicitly that the expedition about to be undertaken, is 
not intended against the post you have the honor to command, 
nor any other place at present in the possession of the troops 
of his Britannic Majesty; but is on foot with the sole design of 
humbling and chastising some of the savage tribes whose dep- 
redations are become intolerable, and whose cruelties have of 
late become an outrage, not on the people of America only,- 



262 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

but on humanity; which I now do in the most unequivocal 
manner. After this candid explanation, sir, there is every 
reason to expect, both from your own personal character, and 
from the regard you have for that of your nation, that those 
tribes will meet with neither countenance nor assistance from 
any under your command, and that you will do what in your 
power lies, to restrain the trading people, from whose instiga- 
tions there is too good reason to believe, much of the injuries 
committed by the savages has proceeded. I have forwarded 
this letter by a private gentleman, in preference to that of an 
officer, by whom you might have expected a communication 
of this kind, that every suspicion of the purity of the views of 
the United States might be obviated." 

The Virginia miUtia (from the counties of Madison, Mercer, 
Fayette, Bourbon, Woodford, and Mason, in the district of 
Kentucky,) began to assemble at the mouth of Licking river, 
about the middle of September. They were not well equipped 
for the expedition. Their arms were generally very bad, and 
unfit for service; and they were almost destitute of camp-ket- 
tles and axes. Soon after the arrival of the militia, however. 
General Harmar, in the midst of many difficulties, began to 
organize them. Colonel Trotter aspired to the command, al- 
though Colonel Hardin was the elder officer ; and some of the 
militia openly declared that unless they were placed under the 
command of Colonel Trotter they would return to their homes. 
In the course of two or three days they were formed into three 
battalions, under Majors Hall, McMullen, and Ray, with Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Trotter at their head. The Pennsylvania miUtia 
arrived at Fort Washington, about the 24th of September. 
They were very badly equipped ; and among them were many 
substitutes — old, infirm men, and young boys. They were 
formed into one battalion, under Lieutenant Colonel Truby 
and Major Paul; and the four battalions of militia were placed 
under the command of Colonel John Hardin, subject to the 
command of General Harmar, Tiie regular troops were formed 
into two small battalions, under Major .John Plasgrave Wyllys, 
and Major John Doughty. The company of Artillery, which 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 263 

had three pieces of ordnance, was commanded by Captain 
William Ferguson. A small battalion of light troops, or 
mounted militia, was placed under the command of Major 
Fontaine. The whole of General Harmar's command may be 
stated thus: 

Three battalions Virginia Militia, 

One battalion Pennsylvania MiUtia, j- 1,133 

One battalion Light troops, mounted. 

Two battalions Regular troops, 320 

Total, - - - 1,453 

On the 26th of September, the militia, under the command 
of Colonel Hardin, moved from Fort Washington and advanced 
into the country, in order to find feed for the cattle, and to 
open a road for the Artillery. The regular troops, under Gen- 
eral Harmar, marched on the 30th of September, and joined 
the militia on the 3d of October, when the order of march was 
arranged in the manner that follows. 



264 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 



ORDER OP MARCH. 

Spies and Guides. 



Advance Company. 



Pioneers 



Cavalry. 



Cavalry. 



McMullen's Battalion of Militia. 



FEDERAL TROOPS. 



o 



^^ 



Si 

e 

o 



s 

e 
e 



> 





1 >. il ^ 


-* • 




S t 






;=; ^ 






•^ t 






'-' n 






.<\ . 


- 






Ammunition. 



Officers'' 



baggage, S^c. 



Flour and Salt. 



X 
X 
X 



X 
X 
X 



Cattle. 

X X 
X X 
X X 



X 
X 
X 



X 
X 
X 



HalVs battalion of Militia. 



o 

?5 

o 



===== ^ 



Rear Guard. 

if 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 



265 



a 
a 
I— I 

Em 

0) 



a 



1^ 



ORDER OP ENCAMPMENT. 

Front Guard, 





Cavalry. 


CQ 


1 
1 


. o> 




<n o 


1 


>- 2 




k5 i: 








3 C3 




bD £ 




<D rs 




« S 




CD m 




r-H >, 




>. 




^ 








cd 




S 


,. QC 






? 










•-< 













of 30 Militia, 
McMullen's Battalion. 



Military Stores, 



Cavalry. 



m I 
O ! 



CO 



3 



. ' 


^^ 


o 


)f^ 


o 


W 


B- 


CD 


•< 


c 






rr 


pj 


pj 


>-< 


«-. 


m 


a 


. 



(ft 
p. 
o 



C3 



£1 



O 



Flour, &c; 



Cattle. 






CO 

o 



2 5i 



Major Hall's battalion of Militia. 
Rear Guard, 



of 30 Militia. 









The daily movements of the army are recorded in a manu- 
script journal, which was kept by Captain John Armstrong, of 
the Regulars, as follows: 

"September 30, 1790. — The army moved from Fort Wash- 
ington, at half past ten o'clock, A. M. — marched about seven 
miles N. E. course — hilly, rich land. Encamped on a branch 
of Mill Creek. 

October 1st. — Took up the line of march at half past eight 
34 



266 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

o'clock: — passed through a level, rich country, watered by 
many small branches, waters of Mill Creek. At two o'clock 
halted one hour; and at four o'clock halted for the evening, on 
a small branch of Mill Creek — having marched about eight 
miles: general course a little to the westward of north. 

October 2d. — Moved forty-five minutes after seven o'clock: 
marched about ten miles a northwest course. The first five 
miles of this day's march was over a dry ridge to a Lick ; then 
five miles through a low swampy country to a branch of the 
waters of the Little Miami, where we halted one hour; and 
forty-five minutes after one o'clock moved on for five miles, a 
N. E. E. and S. E. course, and encamped in a rich and exten- 
sive bottom, on a muddy creek, a branch of the Little Miami. 
This day's march fifteen miles, and one mile from Colonel 
Hardin's command. 

October 3d. — The Army moved at eight o'clock : — passed 
Colonel Hardin's camp, and halted at Turtle Creek, about ten 
yards wide, where we were joined by Colonel Hardin's com- 
mand. Here the line of march was formed. — Two miles. 

October 4th. — The Army moved at half past nine o'clock: 
— passed through a rich country (some places broken) a N. E. 
course, and at three o'clock crossed the Little Miami, about 
forty yards wide : moved up it one mile, a north course, to a 
branch called Sugar Creek. Encamped. — Nine miles. 

5th. — The Army moved from Sugar Creek forty-five min- 
utes after nine o'clock: marched through a level country, a 
N. E. course, up the Little Miami, having it often in view. 
The latter part of this day's march, through low glades, or 
marshy land. Halted at five o'clock on Glade Creek, a very 
lively, clear stream. — Ten miles. 

6th. — The Army moved ten minutes after nine o'clock. The 
first five miles the country was brushy and somewhat broken: 
reached Chillicothe, an old Indian village : recrossed the Little 
Miami; at half past one o'clock halted one hour; and encamp- 
ed, at four o'clock, on a branch. — Nine miles, a N. E. course. 

7th. — The Army moved at ten o'clock: the country brushy 
four miles, and a little broken until we came on the waters of 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 267 

the Great Miami: — passed through several low prairies, and 
crossed the Pickaway fork or Mad River, which is a clear, 
Uvely stream, about forty yards wide: the bottom extensive, 
and very rich. Encamped on a small branch, one mile frpm 
the former. Our course the first four miles north, then north- 
west. — Nine miles. 

Sth. — The Army moved at half past nine o'clock: passed 
over rich land, in some places a little broken : passed several 
ponds, and through one small prairie, a N. W. course. — Seven 
miles. 

9th. — The Army moved at half past nine o'clock: passed 
through a level, rich country, well watered : course N. W. — 
halted half past four o'clock, two miles south of the Great 
Miami. — Ten miles. 

10th. — The Army moved forty-five minutes after nine 
o'clock: crossed the Great Miami: at the crossing there is a 
handsome high prairie on the S. E. side. The river about 
forty yards wide: two miles further, a N. W. course, passed 
through a large prairie. Halted on a large branch of the Great 
Miami at half past three o'clock. The country level and rich: 
the general course N. W. — Ten miles. 

11th. — The Army moved at half past nine o'clock: marched 
a N. W. course seven miles to a branch where French traders 
formerly had a number of Trading houses — thence a N. course 
four miles, to a small branch, and encamped at five o'clock. 
The country we passed over is very rich and level. — Eleven 
miles. 

12th. — The Army moved at half past nine o'clock: our 
course a little to the W. of N. W. — crossed a stream at seven 
miles and a half, running to the N. E. on which there are sev- 
eral old camps, much deadened timber, which continues to the 
river Auglaize, about a mile. Here has been a considerable 
village — some houses still standing. This stream is a branch 
of the Omi [Maumee] river, and is about twenty yards wide. 
From this village to our encampment our course was a little to 
the N. of W. Rich level land. — Fourteen miles. 

13th. — The Army moved at ten o'clock: just before they 



268 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

marched, a prisoner was brought in, and Mr. Morgan, from 
Fort Washington, joined us. We marched to the W. of N. 
W. four miles to a small stream, through low, swampy land — 
then a course a little to the N. of W. passing through several 
small prairies and open woods to an Indian village on a pretty 
stream. Here we were joined by a detachment from Fort 
Washington, with ammunition. — Ten miles. 

14th. — At half past ten m the morning, Colonel Hardin was 
detached for the Miami village, with one company of Regulars 
and six hundred Militia — and the Army took up its line of 
march at eleven o'clock ; a N. W. course ; four miles a small 
branch — the country level — many places drowned lands in 
the winter season. — Ten miles. 

15th. — The Army moved at eight o'clock, N. W. course, 
two miles, a small branch; then north a little west, crossing a 
stream, three miles, N. W. course — the Army halted at half 
past one o'clock, on a branch running west. — Eight miles. 

16th. — The Army moved at forty-five minutes after eight 
o'clock: marched nine miles and halted, fifteen minutes after 
one o'clock. Passed over a level country, not very rich. Colo- 
nel Hardin, with his command, took possession of the Miami 
town yesterday [15th] at four o'clock — the Indians having 
left it just before. — Nine miles. 

17th. — The Army moved at fifteen minutes after eight 
o'clock ; and at one o'clock crossed the Maumee river to the 
village. The river is about seventy yards wide ; a fine, trans- 
parent stream. The river St. Joseph, which forms the point 
on which the village stood, is about twenty yards wide, and, 
when the waters are high, navigable a great way up it. 

On the 18th I was detached, with thirty men, under the 
command of Colonel Trotter: on the 19th Colonei Hardin 
commanded in lieu of Colonel Trotter: attacked about one hun- 
dred Indians, fifteen miles west of the Miami village ; and from 
the dastardly conduct of the militia, the troops were obliged 
to retreat. I lost one sargeant, and twenty-one out of thirty 
men of my command. The Indians on this occasion gained a 
complete victory — having killed, in the whole, near one hun- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 269 

dred men, which was about then- number. Many of the militia 
threw away their arms without firing a shot, ran through the 
federal troops and threAv them in disorder. Many of the In- 
dians must have been killed, as I saw my men bayonet many 
of them. They fought and died hard." 

When the advanced detachment under the command of 
Colonel Hardin reached the Miami village, in the afternoon of 
the 15th of October, the Indians had deserted the place, leav- 
ing behind them some cows, and large quantities of corn and 
vegetables; and the militia, in parties of thirty or forty, regard- 
less of discipline, strolled about in search of plunder. In the 
afternoon of the 17th, the main body of the army arrived at 
the Miami village, and soon afterwards Major McMullen and 
others reported to General Harmar that the tracks of women 
and children had been discovered on an Indian path leading 
from the village, a northwest course, towards the Kickapoo 
towns. The General, supposing that the Indians, with their 
families and baggage, had encamped at some point not far from 
the Miami village, determined to make an effort to discover 
the place of their encampment, and to bring them to a battle. 
Accordingly on the morning of the ISth, he detached Colonel 
Trotter, Major Hall, Major Ray, and Major McMullen, with a 
force amounting to three hundred men, and composed of thirty 
regular troops, forty of Major Fontaine's light horse, and two 
hundred and thirty active riflemen. The detachment was fur- 
nished with three days' provision, and ordered to examine the 
country around the Miami village. After these troops under 
the command of Colonel Trotter had moved about one mile 
from the encampment, the light horsemen discovered, pursued, 
and killed an Indian on horseback. Before this party returned 
to the columns, a second Indian was discovered, when the four 
field officers left their commands and pursued the Indian ; leav- 
ing the troops for the space of about half an hour without any 
directions whatever. The flight of the second Indian was in- 
tercepted by the light horsemen, who despatched him after he 
had wounded one of their party. Colonel Trotter then changed 
the route of his detachment, and marched in various directions 



270 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

until night, when he returned to the camp at the Miami village. 
On the 18th the following general orders were published: 

"Camp at the Miami village, ) 

October 18, 1790. \ 

" The General is much mortified at the unsoldier-like beha- 
viour of many of the men in the army, who make it a practice 
to straggle from the camp in search of plunder.* He, in the 
most positive terms, forbids this practice in future, and the 
guards will be answerable to prevent it. No party is to go 
beyond the line of sentinels without a commissioned officer, 
who, if of the militia, will apply to Colonel Hardin for his or- 
ders. The regular troops will apply to the General. All the 
plunder that may be hereafter collected, will be equally distri- 
buted amongst the army. The kettles, and every other article 
already taken, are to be collected by the commanding officers 
of battalions, and to be delivered to-morrow morning to Mr. 
Belli, the Quartermaster, that a fair distribution may take 
place. The rolls are to be called at troop and retreat beating, 
and every man absent is to be reported. The General expects 
that these orders will be pointedly attended to: they are to be 
read to the troops this evening. The army is to march to- 
morrow morning early for their new encampment at Chilli- 
cothe,t about two miles from hence. 

JOSIAH HARMAR, Brig. General." 

The return of Colonel Trotter to camp, on the evening of 
the 18th, was unexpected by General Harmar, and did not 
receive his approbation. Colonel Hardin asked for the com- 
mand of the same detachment for the remaining two days, and 
his request was granted. On the morning of the 19th, the de- 
tachment, under the command of Colonel Hardin, marched a 
northwest course on the Indian path which led towards the 
Kickapoo towns ; and after passing a morass about five miles 
distant from the Miami village, the troops came to a place 

*On tlie arrival of General Harmar at the Miami village, about two thirds of the militia 
dispersed in search of plunder. The General ordered cannon to be fired, merely to collect 
them; and at the same lime harangued the officers on the ill consequences of such conduct. 

tThis was a Shawanee village. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 271 

where, on the preceding day, a party of Indians had encamped. 
At this spot the detachment made a short halt, and the com- 
manding officer stationed the companies at points several rods 
apart. After the lapse of about half an hour the companies in 
front were ordered to move on; and Captain Faulkner's compa- 
ny was left on the ground, the Colonel having neglected to give 
him orders to march. The troops moved forward about three 
miles, when they discovered two Indians on footj who threw 
off their packs, and, the brush being thick, made their escape. 
About this time Colonel Hardin despatched Major Fontaine, 
with part of the cavalry, in search of Captain Faulkner, suppo- 
sing him to be lost ; and soon afterwards Captain Armstrong, 
who commanded the regulars, informed Colonel Hardin that a 
gun had been fired in front, which might be considered as an' 
alarm gun, and that he had seen the " tracks of a horse that 
had come down the road and returned." The Colonel, how- 
ever, moved on without giving any orders or making any 
arrangements for an attack; and when Captain Armstrong 
discovered the fires of the Indians at a distance, and informed 
Colonel Hardin of the circumstance, that officer, saying that 
the Indians would not fight, rode in front of the advanced col- 
umns until the detachment was fired on from behind the fires. 
The militia, with the exception of nine who remained with 
the regulars and were killed, immediately gave way and com- 
menced an irregular retreat, which they continued until they 
reached the main army. Hardin, who retreated with them, 
made several ineffectual attempts to rally them. The small 
band of regulars, obstinately brave, maintained their ground 
until twenty-two were killed, when Captain Armstrong, Ensign 
Hartshorne, and five or six privates, escaped from the carnage, 
eluded the pursuit of the Indians, and arrived at the camp of 
General Harmar. The number of Indians who were engaged 
on this occasion, cannot be ascertained.* They were led by a 

*Captain Armstrong, under oatli, estimated the number at one hundred men. Colonel 
Hardin, in a deposition which he made in 1791, estimated the number at about one hundred 
and fifty men. Some writers, on questionable authority, have estimated the number of 
Indians at seven hundred. 



272 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

distinguished Miami chief, whose name was Mish-e-ken-o-quoh, 
which signifies the Little Turtle. The ground on which the 
action took place, lies about eleven miles from Fort Wayne, and 
near the point at which the Goshen state road crosses Eel river. 
On the morning of the 19th, the main body of the army un- 
der Harmar, having destroyed the Miami village, moved about 
two miles to a Shawanee village which was called Chillicothe,^ 
where, on the 20th, the General published the following orders : 

" Camp at Chillicothe, one of the Shawanese towns, -i 
on the Omee [Maumee] river, October 20th, 1790. ) 

" The party under command of Captain Strong is ordered to 
burn and destroy every house and wigwam in this village, to- 
gether with all the corn, &c. which he can collect. A party 
of one hundred men (militia) properly officered, under the com- 
mand of Colonel Hardin, is to burn and destroy effectually, 
this afternoon, the Pickaway town,* with all the corn, &c. 
which he can find in it and its vicinity* 

" The cause of the detachment being worsted yesterday was 
entirely owing to the shameful cowardly conduct of the militia 
who ran away, and threw down their arms, without firing 
scarcely a single gun. In returning to Fort Washington, if 
any officer or men shall presume to quit the ranks, or not to 
march in the form that they are ordered, the General will, 
most assuredly, order the artillery to fire on them. He hopes 
the check they received yesterday will make them in future 
obedient to orders. 

JOSIAH HARMAR, Brig. General." 

At ten o'clock, A. M. on the 21st, the army moved from the 
ruins of the Chillicothe village, marched about seven miles on 
the route to Fort Washington, and encamped. The night be- 
ing very clear. Colonel Hardin informed General Harmar that 
he thought it would be a good opportunity to steal a march on 
the Indians, as he had reason to beheve that they had returned 
to the towns as soon as the army had left them. Harmar did 
not seem to be willing to send a party back; but Hardin "urged 

*A Shawanese village. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 273 

the matter, informing the General that^ as he had been unfor- 
tunate the other day, he wished to have it in his power to pick 
the militia and try it again ; and at the same time endeavored 
to account for the men's not fighting ; and desired an opportu- 
nity to retrieve the credit of the militia." * In order to satisfy 
the request of Hardin, and to give the Indians a check, and 
thus prevent their harassing the army on its return to Fort 
Washington, General Harmar determined to send back a de- 
tachment of four hundred men. Accordingly, late on the 
night of the 21st a corps of three hundred and forty militia, and 
sixty regular troops under the command of Major Wyllys, 
were detached, that they might gain the vicinity of the Miami 
village, before day-break, and surprise any Indians who might 
be found there. The detachment marched in three columns. 
The regular troops were in the centre, at the head of which 
Captain Joseph Ashton was posted, with Major Wyllys and 
Colonel Hardin in his front. The militia formed the columns 
to the right and left. Owing to some delay, occasioned by the 
halting of the militia, the detachment did not reach the banks 
of the Maumee till some time after sun-rise. The spies then 
discovered some Indians and reported to Major Wyllys, who 
halted the regular troops, and moved the militia on some dis- 
tance in front, where he gave his orders and plan of attack to 
the several commanding officers of corps. Major Wyllys re- 
served to himself the command of the regular troops. Major 
Hall, with his battalion, was directed to take a circuitous route 
round the bend of the Maumee river, cross the St. Mary's, and 
there, in the rear of the Indians, wait until the attack should be 
brought on by Major McMullen's battalion, Major Fontaine's 
cavalry, and the regular troops under Major Wyllys, who 
were all ordered to cross the Maumee at and near the common 
fording place. It was the intention of Hardin and Wyllys to 
surround the Indian encampment; but Major Hall, who had 
gained his position undiscovered, disobeyed his orders by firing 
on a single Indian, before the commencement of the action. 
Several small parties of Indians were soon seen flying in difler- 

*Deposition of Col. Haidin, taken 14lh September, 1791- 

35 



274 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

ent directions, and the militia under McMuUen and the cavahy 
under Fontaine, pursued them in disobedience of orders, and 
left Major Wyllys unsupported. The consequence was that 
the regulars, after crossing the Maumee, were attacked by a 
superior force of Indians, and compelled to retreat, with the 
loss of Major Wyllys, and the greater part of their corps. 
Major Fontaine, at the head of the mounted militia, fell, with 
a number of his followers, in making a charge against a small 
party of Indians ; and on his fall the remainder of his troops 
dispersed. While the main body of the Indians, led by the 
Little Turtle, were engaged with the regulars near the banks 
of the Maumee, some skirmishing took place near the confluence 
of the rivers St. Mary's and St. Joseph, between detached par- 
ties of Indians and the militia under Hall and McMullen. After 
the defeat of the regulars, however, the militia retreated on the 
route to the main army; and the Indians, having suffered a 
severe loss, did not pursue them. About eleven o'clock, A. M. 
a single horseman reached the camp of Harmar with news of 
the defeat of the detachment. The General immediately or- 
dered Major Ray to march with his battalion to the assistance 
of the retreating parties ; but so great was the panic which pre- 
vailed among the militia that only thirty men could be induced 
to leave the main army. With this small number Major Ray 
proceeded a short distance towards the scene of action, when 
he met Colonel Hardin on his retreat. On reaching the en- 
campment of Harmar, Colonel Hardin requested the General 
to march back to the Miami village with the whole army; but 
Harmar said to him, "you see the situation of the army: we 
are now scarcely able to move our baggage: it will take up 
three days to go, and return to this place : we have no more 
forage for our horses : the Indians have got a very good scourg- 
ing; and I will keep the army in perfect readiness to receive 
them, should they think proper to follow." * The General, at 
this time, had lost all confidence in the militia. The bounds of 
the camp were made less, and, at eight o'clock, on the morn- 
ing of the 23d, the army took up the line of march for Fort 

♦Deposition of Colonel Hardin, September 14, 1791. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 275 

Washington, and reached that place on the 4th of November, 
having lost in the expedition one hundred and eighty-three 
killed, and thirty-one wounded. Among the killed were Major 
Wyllys and Lieutenant Ebenezer Frotliingham, of the regular 
troops; and Major Fontaine, Captains Thorp, McMurtrey and 
Scott, Lieutenants Clark and Rogers, and Ensigns Bridges, 
Sweet, Higgens, and Thielkeld, of ihe militia. The Indians, 
whose loss was about equal to that of the whites, did not an- 
noy the army after the action of the 22d of October. 

During the progress of Harmar's operations against the 
Indians about the Miami town. Major Hamtramck, with the 
troops under his command, marched up the Wabash to the 
mouth of the river Vermillion, destroyed some deserted villa- 
ges, and returned to Vincennes, without meeting with any 
opposition on his march. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A severe punishment was inflicted on the Miami and Shavv- 
anee tribes, by the troops under the command of General 
Harmar, in the fall of the year 1790; but the events which 
immediately followed the campaign did not accord with the 
expectations of the government of the United States. The 
expedition did not compel the hostile tribes to sue for peace; 
nor were the settlements on the borders of the river Ohio re- 
lieved from the evils of a revengeful, merciless, and destructive 
war. On the 8th of January, 1791, General Rufus Putnam, 
who was one of the " Ohio Company of Associates," and the 
founder of the settlement at Marietta, wrote to President 
Washington as follows : 

" Marietta, January 8, 1791. 

" Sir : The mischief which I feared has overtaken us much 
sooner than I expected. On the evening of the 2d instant, 
between sunset and daylight-in, the Indians surprised a new 
settlement of our people at a place on the Muskingum, called 
the Big Bottom, nearly forty miles up the river, in which dis- 
aster eleven men, one woman, and two children were killed : 
three men are missing, and four others made their escape. 
Thus, sir, the war which was partial before the campaign of 
last year, is, in all probability become general : for I think that 
there is no reason to suppose that we are the only people on 
whom the savages will wreak their vengeance, or that the 
number of hostile Indians have not increased since the late 
expedition. Our situation is truly critical. The Governor and 
Secretary both being absent, no assistance from Virginia or 
Pennsylvania can be had. The garrison at Fort Harmar, 



HTSTORTCAL NOTES. 277 

consisting at this time of little more than twenty men, can 
aftbrd no protection to onr settlements ; and the whole number 
ot" men, in all our settlements, capable of bearing arms, inclu- 
ding all civil and military officers, do not exceed two hundred 
and eighty-seven, and these, many of them, badly armed. We 
are in the utmost danger of being swallowed up, should the 
enemy push the war with vigor during the winter. This I 
believe will fully appear by taking a short view of our several 
settlements, and I hope, justify the extraordinary measures * 
we have adopted, for want of a legal authority in the Terri- 
tory to apply for aid in the business. The situation of our 
people is nearly as follows : 

" At Marietta are about eighty houses in the distance of one 
mile, with scattering houses about three miles up the river. 
A set of mills at Duck creek, four miles distant; and ano- 
ther mill two miles up the Muskingum. Twenty-two miles up 
this river is a settlement, consisting of about twenty families : 
about two miles from them, on Wolf creek, are five families and 
a set of mills. Down the Ohio, and opposite the Little Kan- 
awha, commences the settlement called Belle Prairie, which 
extends down the river, with little interruption, about twelve 
miles, and contains between thirty and forty houses. Before 
the late disaster we had several other settlements, which are 
already broken up. I have taken the liberty to enclose the 
proceedings of the Ohio Company and Justices of the Sessions 
on this occasion, and beg leave, with the greatest deference, 
to observe, that, unless government speedily send a body of 
troops for our protection, we are a ruined people. The remo- 
val of the women and children, &c. will reduce many of the 
poorer sort to the greatest straits ; but, if we add to this the 
destruction of their corn, forage, and cattle, by the enemy, 
which is very probable to ensue, I know of no way they can 
be supported : but, if this should not happen, where these peo- 
ple are to raise bread another year, is not easy to conjecture; 

♦Immediately after the disaster at Big Bottom, the Directors of tlie "Ohio Company of 
Associates" voted to raise ami pay troops, to be employed in the defence of their settle- 
ments. 



278 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

and most of them have nothing left to buy with. But my fears 
do not stop here. We are a people so far detached from all 
others, in point of situation, that we can hope for no timely 
relief, in case of emergency, from any of our neighbors ; and 
among the numbers that compose our present military strength 
almost one half are young men, hired into the country, intend- 
ing to settle by and by. These, under present circumstances, 
will probably leave us soon, unless prospects should brighten ; 
and, as to new settlers, we can expect none in our present sit- 
uation : so that, instead of increasing in strength, we are like 
to diminish daily; and, if we do not fall a prey to the savages, 
we shall be so reduced and discouraged as to give up the 
settlement, unless government shall give us timely protection. 
It has been a mystery with some why the troops have been 
withdrawn from this quarter, and collected at the Miami; 
[Symmes' Purchase ;] that settlement is, I believe, within three 
or four days' march of a very populous part of Kentucky, from 
whence, in a few days, they might be reinforced with several 
thousand men ; whereas, we are not within two hundred miles 
of any settlement that can probably more than protect them- 
selves. But, I forbear suggestions of this sort, and will only 
observe further, that our present situation is truly distressing; 
and I do, therefore, most earnestly implore the protection of 
government, for myself and friends inhabiting these wilds of 
America. To this we conceive ourselves justly entitled; and 
so far as you, sir, have the means in your power, we rest assu- 
red that we shall receive it in due time. 

I have the honor to be, with the highest possible respect, sir, 
your most obedient and most humble servant, 

RUFUS PUTNAM." 

Immediately after the close of the expedition of Harmar, the 
fears of Indian depredations which prevailed among the settle- 
ments about Marietta, became general among the inhabitants 
of the western counties of Virginia. The delegates of the 
counties of Ohio, Monongahela, Harrison, Randolph, Green- 
briar, -Kanawha, and Montgomery, sent to the Governor of 
Virginia a joint memorial, in which they made the following 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 279 

statement: "The defenceless condition of those counties, form- 
ing a Une of nearly four hundred miles along the Ohio river, 
exposed to the hostile invasion of their Indian enemies, desti- 
tute of every kind of support, is truly alarming: for notwith- 
standing all the regulations of the General Government in that 
country, we have reason to lament that they have been hith- 
erto ineffectual for our protection: nor, indeed, could it happen 
otherwise: for the garrisons kept by the continental troops on 
the Ohio river, if they are of any use, it must be to the Ken- 
tucky settlements; as they immediately cover that country. 
To us they can be of no service, being from two to four hun- 
dred miles below our frontier settlements. * * * We further 
beg leave to observe that we have reason to fear that the con- 
sequences of the defeat of our army by the Indians, on the late 
expedition, will be severely felt on our frontiers : as there is no 
doubt but that the Indians will, in their turn, (being flushed 
with victory,) invade our settlements, and exercise all their 
horrid murder upon the inhabitants thereof, whenever the 
weather will permit them to travel. Then is it not better to 
support us where we are, be the expense what it may, than to 
oblige such a number of your brave citizens, who have so long 
supported, and still continue to support, a dangerous frontier, 
(although thousands of their relatives in the flesh have, in the 
prosecution thereof, fallen a sacrifice to savage inventions) to 
quit the country, after all they have done and suffered, when 
you know that a frontier must be supported somewhere." 

The memorial was signed by Benjamin Biggs and John Hen- 
derson, of Ohio county; John Evans, jr. and William McClee- 
ry, of Monongahela county ; George Jackson and John Prunty, 
of Harrison county; Cornelius Bogard and Abraham Claypool, 
of Randolph county; Andrew Donnally and George Clendinen, 
of Kanawha county ; Thomas Edgar and W. H. Cavendish, of 
Greenbriar county ; and H. Montgomery and R. SaAvyers, of 
Montgomery county. 

In consequence of the representations contained in this me- 
morial, the Legislature of Virginia, by a resolution of the 20th 
of December, 1790, authorized the Governor of that state to 



280 HISTORICAL NOTES. , 

direct such temporary defensive operations in the frontier coun- 
ties, "as would secure the citizens thereof from the hostile in- 
vasions of the Indian enemy, until the General Government 
could enter into full and effectual measures to accomplish the 
said object," The Governor, Beverly Randolph, immediately 
despatched orders to the military commanding officers in the 
western counties, requiring them to raise, by the 1st of March, 
1791, several small companies of Rangers, for the protection of 
the inhabitants of the frontier counties. Charles Scott, Esq. 
was appointed Brigadier General of the militia of the district 
of Kentucky, with authority to procure, by voluntary engage- 
ments, two hundred and twenty-six men, to range the most 
exposed parts of the frontiers of that district. 

An account of these proceedings of the legislative and execu- 
tive authorities of Virginia, was transmitted to the President 
of the United States, by Governor Randolph, on the 4th of 
January, 1791; and soon afterwards the General Government 
constituted a local Board of War for the district of Kentucky. 
This Board was composed of Brigadier General Charles Scott, 
Harry Innis, John Brown, Benjamin Logan, and Isaac Shelby. 

On the 3d of March, 1791, Congress passed "An act for 
raising and adding another regiment to the military establish- 
ment of the United States, and for making further provision 
for the protection of the frontiers." Governor St. Clair, by 
the advice and consent of the Senate, was invested with the 
chief command of about three thousand troops, to be raised 
and employed against the hostile Indians northwest of the 
Ohio; and on the 21st of March, 1791, the Secretary of War 
sent to St. Clair a letter of instructions, from which the follow- 
ing is an extract: 

" While you are making use of such desultory operations as 
in your judgment the occasion may require, you will proceed 
vigorously, in every preparation in your power, for the purpose 
of the main expedition ; and having assembled your force, and 
all things being in readiness, if no decisive indications of peace 
should have been produced, either by the messengers, or by 
the desultory operations, you will commence your march for 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 281 

the Miami village, in order to establish a strong and permanent 
military post at that place. In your advance you will establish 
such posts of communication with Fort Washington, on the 
Ohio, as you may judge proper. The post at the Miami village 
is intended for awing and curbing the Indians in that quarter, 
and as the only preventive of future hostilities. It ought, there- 
fore, to be rendered secure against all attempts and insults of 
the Indians. The garrison which should be stationed there 
ought not only to be sufficient for the defence of the place, but 
always to afford a detachment of five or six hundred men, 
either to chastise any of the Wabash, or other hostile Indians, or 
to secure any convoy of provisions. The establishment of said 
post is considered as an important object of the campaign, and 
is to take place in all events. In case of a previous treaty, the 
Indians ore to be conciliated upon this point if possible; and it 
is presumed good arguments may be offered, to induce their 
acquiescence. * * * Having commenced your march upon the 
main expedition, and the Indians continuing hostile, you will 
use every possible exertion to make them feel the effects of 
your superiority : and after having arrived at the Miami vil- 
lage, and put your works in a defensible state, you will seek 
the enemy with the whole of your remaining force, and en- 
deavor, by all possible means, to strike them with great sever- 
ity. * * * In order to avoid future wars, it might be proper 
to make the Wabash, and thence over to the Maumee, and 
down the same to its mouth at Lake Erie, the boundary [ be- 
tween the people of the United States and the Indians,] except- 
ing so far as the same should relate to the Wyandots and Dela- 
wares, on the supposition of their continuing faithful to the 
treaties. But if they should join in the war against the United 
States, and your army be victorious, the said tribes ought to 
be removed without the boundary mentioned." 

On the 9th of March, 1791, General Henry Knox, Secretary 
of War, sent to Brigadier General Scott, of Kentucky, a letter 
of instructions, from which the following is an extract : 

"Sir: The issue and consequent effect of the expedition 

against the Miami towns, and the situation of affairs between 
36 



'i82 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the United States and the Wabash, and other hostile Indians, 
northwest of the Ohio, are well known to you, and the inhabi- 
tants of Kentucky, generally, * * * It would afford high satis- 
faction to the President of the United States, could a firm 
peace be established, without further effusion of blood; and, 
although he conceives the sacred principles of humanity, and a 
regard to the welfare of the country, dictate that he should 
take every proper arrangement to bring the deluded Indians 
to a just sense of their situation, yet he is apprehensive that all 
lenient endeavors will be fruitless. He is, therefore, constrain- 
ed to calculate his ultimate measures, to impress the Indians 
with a strong conviction of the power of the United States, to 
inflict that degree of punishment which justice may require. 
That, for this purpose, he avails the public of the offers which 
you and the delegates of Kentucky, and the other frontier 
counties of Virginia, made, by your memorial of the 4th of 
December last, to combat the Indians according to your own 
modes of warfare. 

*' It is the result of information, from men of reputation in 
Indian affairs, that a body of five hundred picked men, mounted 
on good horses, by rapid incursions, would be equal to the as- 
sault of any of the Indian towns lying on the Wabash river, and 
that the probability would be highly in favor of surprising and 
capturing at least a considerable number of women and chil- 
dren. In this view of the object, and also estimating the con- 
sequent impressions such as a successful operation would make 
upon the Indians, by demonstrating to them that they are 
within our reach, and lying at our mercy ; and also, consider- 
ing from the before recited memorial and other information, 
that such an opportunity of acting by themselves in an Indian 
expedition, would be highly gratifying to the hardy and brave 
yeomanry of Kentucky, the President of the United States 
hereby authorizes an expedition of the magnitude, and upon 
the conditions hereinafter described." 

By the instructions which were subsequently contained in 
the letter of the Secretary of War, the Board of War for the 
district of Kentucky were authorized to send an expedition 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 283 

of mounted men, not exceeding seven hundred and fifty, against 
the Wea towns on the river Wabash. The pay of each pri- 
vate engaged in the expedition was fixed at 66f cents per day; 
and the troops were directed to move from some point on the 
river Ohio, about the 10th of May, 1791. " The mounted vol- 
unteers or militia," said the Secretary, in his letter of instruc- 
tions, " are to proceed to the Wea, or Ouiatenon towns of In- 
dians, there to assault the said towns, and the Indians therein, 
either by surprise, or otherwise, as the nature of the circum- 
stances may admit — sparing all who may cease to resist, and 
capturing as many as possible, particularly women and chil- 
dren. And on this point it is the positive orders of the Presi- 
dent of the United States, that all such captives be treated with 
humanity ; and that they be carried and delivered to the com- 
manding officer of some post of the United States upon the 
Ohio." The President, also, authorized the Board of War to 
send a second expedition, and a third one against the Wabash 
Indians, provided the Major General, or commanding officer 
on the Ohio, should order the same under his hand and seal. 

On the 23d of May, 1791, Brigadier General Scott, at the 
head of about eight hundred mounted and armed men, having 
crossed the Ohio at the mouth of the Kentucky river, com- 
menced his march for Ouiatenon,* on the Wabash. In his 
official report of the 2Sth June, 1791, addressed to the Secre- 
tary of War, he made the following statements of the move- 
ments of the expedition under his command : 

" In the prosecution of the enterprise I marched four miles 
from the banks of the Ohio, on the 23d of May ; and on the 
24th I resumed my march, and pushed forward with the ut- 
most industry, directing my route to Ouiatenon, in the best 
manner my guides and information enabled me ; though I found 
myself greatly deficient in both. By the 31st I had marched 
one hundred and thirty-five miles, over a country cut by four 
large branches of White River, and many smaller streams, 

*This "Ouiatenon," or Wea village, stood on the southern bank of the river Wabash, 
(on the tract of land which is now called -'Wea Prairie,") about eight miles below the site 
of the town of Lafayette, in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. 



284 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

with steep muddy banks: during this march I traversed a 
country alternately interspersed with the most luxuriant soil, 
and deep clayey bogs, from one to five miles in width, render- 
ed almost impervious by brush and briars. Rain fell in tor- 
rents every day with frequent blasts of wind and thunder 
storms. These obstacles impeded my progress, wore down 
my horses, and destroyed my provisions. 

"On the morning of the 1st instant, [June,] as the army 
entered an extensive prairie, I perceived an Indian on horse- 
back, a few miles to the right. I immediately made a detach- 
ment to intercept him ; but he escaped. Finding myself dis- 
covered, I determined to advance with all the rapidity my 
circumstances would permit, leather with the hope than the 
expectation of reaching the object sought that day; for my 
guides were strangers to the country which I occupied. At 
one o'clock, having marched, by computation, one hundred 
and fifty-five miles from the Ohio, as I penetrated a grove which 
bordered on an extensive prairie, I discovered two small villa- 
ges to my left, at two and four miles distance. 

"My guides now recognised the ground, and informed me 
that the main town Avas four or five miles in my front, behind 
a point of woods which jutted into the prairie. I immediately 
detached Colonel John Hardin, with sixty mounted infantry, 
and a troop of light-horse under Captain McCoy, to attack the 
villages to the left, and moved on briskly with my main body 
in order of battle, towards the town, the smoke of which was 
discernible. My guides were deceived with respect to the sit- 
uation of the town : for, instead of standing at the edge of the 
plain through which I marched, I found it on the low ground 
bordering on the Wabash: on turning the point of woods, one 
house presented in my front. Captain Price was ordered to 
assault that with forty men. He executed the command with 
great gallantry, and killed two warriors. 

" When I gained the summit of the eminence which over- 
looks the villages on the banks of the Wabash, I discovered the 
enemy in great confusion, endeavoring to make their escape 
over the river in canoes. I instantly ordered Lieutenant Colo- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 285 

nel-commandant Wilkinson to rush forward with the first bat- 
talion. The order was executed with promptitude, and this 
detachment gained the bank of the river just as the rear of the 
enemy had embarked; and, regardless of a brisk fire kept up 
from a Kickapoo town on the opposite bank, they, in a few 
minutes, by a well directed fire from their rifles destroyed all 
the savages with which five canoes were crowded. To my 
great mortification the Wabash was many feet beyond fording 
at this place : I therefore detached Colonel Wilkinson to a ford 
two miles above, which my guides informed me was more 
practicable.* 

" The enemy still kept possession of the Kickapoo town : I 
determined to dislodge them; and for that purpose ordered 
Captain King's and Logsdon's companies to march down the 
river below the town, and cross, under the conduct of Major 
Barbee. Several of the men swam the river, and others passed 
in a small canoe. This movement was unobserved; and my 
men had taken post on the bank before they were discovered 
by the enemy, who immediately abandoned the village. About 
this time word was brought me that Colonel Hardin was en- 
cumbered with prisoners, and had discovered a stronger village 
further to my left than those I had observed, which he was 
proceeding to attack. I immediately detached Captain Brown 
with his company, to support the Colonel: but the distance 
being six miles, before the Captain arrived the business was 
done, and Colonel Hardin joined me a little before sunset, hav- 
ing killed six warriors, and taken fifty-two prisoners. Captain 
Bull, the warrior who discovered me in the morning, had gain- 
ed the main town, and given the alarm, a short time before 
me; but the villages to my left were uninformed of my ap- 
proach, and had no retreat. 

" The next morning I determined to detach my Lieutenant 
Colonel-commandant, with five hundred men, to destroy the 
important town of Keth-tip-e-ca-nunk, eighteen miles from 
my camp, and on the west side of the Wabash ; but, on exam- 

*Wilkinson moved the first battalion up to the fording place, found the river impassa- 
ble, and returned to Ouiatcnon. 



286 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

ination, I discovered my men and horses to be so crippled and 
worn down by a long laborious march, and the active exer- 
tions of the preceding day, that three hundred and sixty men 
only, could be found in a capacity to undertake the enterprise, 
and they prepared to march on foot. Colonel Wilkinson 
marched with this detachment at half after five in the evening, 
and returned to my camp the next day at one o'clock, having 
marched thirty-six miles in twelve hours, and destroyed the 
most im.portant settlement of the enemy in that quarter of the 
federal territory. 

" Many of the inhabitants of this village [Ouiatenon] were 
French, and lived in a state of civilization. By the books, let- 
ters, and other documents, found there, it is evident that place 
was in close connection with, and dependent on, Detroit. A 
large quantity of corn, a variety of household goods, peltry, 
and other articles were burned with this village, which con- 
sisted of about seventy houses, many of them well finished. 

"Misunderstanding the object of a white flag, which appear- 
ed on an eminence opposite to me in the afternoon of the first, 
I liberated an aged squaw, and sent with her a message to the 
savages, that, if they would come in and surrender, their towns 
should be spared, and they should receive good treatment. It 
was afterwards found that this white flag was not intended as 
a signal of parley, but was placed there to mark the spot where 
a person of distinction among the Indians, who had died some 
time before, was interred. 

" On the 4th, I determined to discharge sixteen of the weak- 
est and most infirm of my prisoners, with a [written] talk to 
the Wabash tribes. My motives to this measure were, to rid 
the army of a heavy incumbrance, to gratify the impulsions of 
humanity, to increase the panic my operations had produced, 
and, by distracting the councils of the enemy, to favor the 
views of government; and I flatter myself these objects will 
justify my conduct, and secure the approbation of my country. 
On the same day, [4th,] after having burned the towns and ad- 
jacent villages, and destroyed the growing corn and pulse, I 
began my march for the Rapids of Ohio, where I arrived the 



HISTORICAL NOTES. . 287 

14th June, without the loss of a single man by the enemy, and 
five only wounded ; having killed thirty-two, chiefly warriors 
of size and figure, and taken fifty-eight prisoners. 

" It is with pride and pleasure I mention that no act of inhu- 
manity has marked the conduct of the volunteers of Kentucky 
on this occasion. Even the inveterate habit of scalping the 
dead ceased to influence. I have delivered forty-one prisoners 
to Captain Ashton, of the first United States regiment, at Fort 
Steuben, for which I have his receipt. I sincerely lament that 
the weather, and the consequences produced by it, rendered it 
impossible for me to carry terror and desolation to the head of 
the Wabash. The corps I had the honor to command was 
equal to the object; but the" condition of my horses, and state 
of my provisions, were insuperable obstacles to my own inten- 
tions, and the wishes of all." 

When Brigadier General Scott released sixteen weak and 
infirm prisoners at Ouiatenon, he gave them a written speech, 
of which the following is a copy : 
" To the various tribes of the Piankeshaws, and all the Nations 

of Red People, lying on the waters of the Wabash River. 

"The sovereign council of the thirteen United States have 
long patiently borne your depredations against their settle- 
ments on this side of the great mountains, in the hope that 
you would see your error, and correct it, by entering with 
them into the bonds of amity and lasting peace. Moved by 
compassion, and pitying your misguided councils, they have 
frequently addressed you on this subject, but without effect. 
At length their patience is exhausted, and they have stretched 
forth the arm of power against you. Their mighty sons and 
chief warriors have at length taken up the hatchet : they have 
penetrated far into your country, to meet your warriors, and 
punish them for their transgressions. But you fled before them, 
and declined the battle, leaving your wives and children to 
their mercy. They have destroyed your old town, Ouiatenon, 
and the neighboring villages, and have taken many prisoners. 
Resting here two days, to give you time to collect your strength, 
they have proceeded to your town of Keth-tip-e-ca-nunk ; but 



288 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

you again fled before them, and that great town has been 
destroyed. After giving you this evidence of their poM^er 
they have stopped their hands, because they are merciful as 
strong; and they again indulge the hope that you will come to 
a sense of your true interest, and determine to make a lasting 
peace with them, and all their children, for ever. 

" The United States have no desire to destroy the Red Peo- 
ple, although they have the power: but, should you decline 
this invitation, and pursue your unprovoked hostilities, their 
strength will again be exerted against you. Your warriors 
will be slaughtered — your towns and villages ransacked and 
destroyed — j'our wives and children carried into captivity — 
and you may be assured that those who escape the fury of our 
mighty chiefs, shall find no resting place on this side the great 
lakes. The warriors of the United States wish not to distress 
or destroy women and children, or old men; and, although 
policy obliges them to retain some in captivity, yet compassion 
and humanity have induced them to set others at liberty, who 
will deliver you this talk. Those who are carried off will be 
left in the care of our great chief and warrior General St. Clair, 
near the mouth of the Miami, and opposite the Licking river, 
where they will be treated with humanity and tenderness. If 
you wish to recover them, repair to that place by the first day 
of July next, determined, with true hearts, to bury the hatchet 
and smoke the pipe of peace. They will then be restored to 
you; and you may again set down in security at your old 
towns, and live in peace and happiness, unmolested by the 
children of the United States, who will become your friends 
and protectors, and will be ready to furnish you with all the 
necessaries you may require. But, should you foolishly persist 
in your warfare, the sons of war will be let loose against you, 
and the hatchet will never be buried until your country is des- 
olated, and your people humbled to the dust. 

"Given under my hand and seal, at the Ouiatenon town, 
this 4th day of June, 179L 

CHARLES SCOTT, Brigadier General." 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 289 

On the 25th of June, 1791, Governor St. Clair, while he 
was making preparations to march a strong military force to 
the Miami village, wrote to the Board of War of the district 
of Kentucky, and authorized them to send a second expedition 
not exceeding five hundred mounted men, against the Indian 
villages on the Wabash. At Danville, on the 5th of July, the 
Board of War invested Brigadier General James Wilkinson 
with the command of the second expedition, and the troops 
were ordered to rendezvous at Fort Washington, by the 20th 
of July, " well mounted on horseback, well armed, and provi- 
ded with thirty days' provisions." On the first of August, 
Wilkinson, at the head of about five hundred and twenty-five 
men, moved from the neighborhood of Fort Washington, and, 
after making a feint towards the Miami village, directed his 
march towards the Indian village of Ke-na-pa-com-a-qua, 
which stood on the northern bank of Eel River, about six 
miles from the point where that stream enters the river Wa- 
bash** In an official report of the 24th August, 1791, addres- 
sed to Governor St. Clair, Brigadier General Wilkinson made 
the following statements: 

"I quitted my camp on the 7th [August,] as soon as I could 
see my way, crossed one path at three miles distance, bearing 
northeast, and at seven miles I fell into another, very much 
used, bearing northwest by north, which I at once adopted as 
the direct route to my object, and pushed forward with the 
utmost despatch. I halted at twelve o'clock to refresh the 
horses, and examine the men's arms and ammunition ; marched 
again at half after one; and at fifteen minutes before five I 
struck the Wabash, about one and a half leagues above the 
mouth of Eel River, being the very spot for which I had aimed 
from the commencement of my march. I crossed the river, 
and following the path a north by east course, at the distance 
of two and a half miles, my reconnoitering party announced 
Eel River in front, and the town on the opposite bank. I dis- 
mounted, ran forward, and examined the situation of the town 

*EeI river enters the Wabash at the site of the town of Logansport, in Cass County. 
Indiana. 

37 



290 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

as far as was practicable, without exposing myself; but the 
whole face of the country, from the Wabash to the margin of 
Eel River, being a continued thicket of brambles, black jacks, 
weeds and shrubs of different kinds, it was impossible for me 
to get a satisfactory view, without endangering a discovery. 
I immediately determined to post two companies on the bank 
of the river, opposite to the town, and above the ground I then 
occupied, to make a detour with Major Caldwell and the se- 
cond battalion, until I fell into the Miami trace, and by that 
route to cross the river above, and gain the rear of the town, 
and to leave directions with Major McDowell, who command- 
ed the first battalion, to lie perdue until I commenced the at- 
tack, then to dash through the river with his corps and the 
advanced guard, and assault the houses in front and upon the 
left. In the moment I was about to put this arrangement into 
execution, word was brought me that the enemy had taken 
the alarm, and were flying. I instantly ordered a general 
charge, which was obeyed with alacrity. The men, forcing 
their way over every obstacle, plunged through the river with 
vast intrepidity. The enemy was unable to make the smallest 
resistance. Six warriors, and (in the hurry and confusion of 
the charge) two squaws and a child, were killed ; thirty-four 
prisoners were taken, and an unfortunate captive released, 
with the loss of two men killed and one wounded. 

" I found this town scattered along Eel River for full three 
miles, on an uneven, scrubby oak barren, intersected altern- 
ately by bogs almost impassable, and impervious thickets of 
plum, hazle, and black jacks. Notwithstanding these difficul- 
ties, if I may credit the report of the prisoners, very few who 
were in town escaped. Expecting a second expedition, their 
goods were generally packed up and buried. Sixty warriors 
had crossed the Wabash to watch the paths leading from the 
Ohio. The head chief, with all the prisoners, and a number of 
families, were out digging a root which they substitute in the 
place of the potato ; and about one hour before my arrival, all 
the warriors, except eight, had mounted their horses, and rode 
up the river to a French store to purchase ammunition. This 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 291 

ammunition had arrived from the Miami village that very day, 
and the squaws informed me was stored about two miles from 
the town. I detached Major Caldwell in quest of it; but he 
failed to make any discovery, although he scoured the country 
for seven or eight miles up the river. 

" I encamped in the town that night, and the next morning I 
cut up the corn, scarcely in the milk, burnt the cabins, mounted 
my young warriors, squaws, and children, in the best manner 
in my power, and leaving two infirm squaws and a child, with 
a short talk, I commenced my march for the Kickapoo town 
in the prairie. I felt my prisoners a vast incumbrance ; but I 
was not in force to justify a detachment, having barely five 
hundred and twenty-three rank and file, and being then in the 
bosom of the Ouiatenon country, one hundred and eighty miles 
removed from succor, and not more than one and a half day's 
march from the Pottawattamies, Shawanees, and Delawares. 

" Not being able to discover any path in the direct course to 
the Kickapoo town, I marched by the road leading to Tippe- 
canoe, in the hope of finding some diverging trace which might 
favor my design. I encamped that evening about six miles 
from Ke-na-pa-com-a-qua, the Indian name of the town I had 
destroyed, and marched next morning at four o'clock. My 
course continued west until nine o'clock, when I turned to the 
northwest, on a small hunting path, and, at a short distance, I 
launched into the boundless prairies of the west, with the inten- 
tion to pursue that course until I could strike a road which leads 
from the Pottawattamies of Lake Michigan immediately to the 
town I sought. With this view, I pushed forward through bog 
after bog, to the saddle skirts, in mud and water; and after 
persevering for eight hours, I found myself environed on all 
sides, with morasses which forbade my advancing, and, at the 
same time, rendered it difficult for me to extricate my little 
army. The way by which we had entered was so much beat 
and softened by the horses, that it was almost impossible to 
return by that route ; and my guides pronounced the morass 
in front, impassable. A chain of thin groves, extending in the 
direction of the Wabash, at this time presented itself to my 



•292 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

left. It was necessary I should gain these groves; and, for 
this purpose, I dismounted, went forward, and leading my 
horse through a bog, to the armpits in mud and water, with 
great difficulty and fatigue I accomplished my object; and, 
changing my course to south by west, I regained the Tippe- 
canoe road at five o'clock, and encamped on it at seven o'clock, 
after a march of thirty miles, which broke down several of my 
horses. I am the more minute in detailing the occurrences of 
this day, because they produced the most unfavorable eJETects. 

" I was in motion at four o'clock next morning, and at eight 
o'clock my advanced guard made some discoveries which indu- 
ced me to believe we were near an Indian village. I immedi- 
ately pushed that body forward in a trot, and followed with 
Major Caldwell and the second battalion; leaving Major 
McDowell to take the charge of the prisoners. I reached 
Tippecanoe at twelve o'clock, which had been occupied by the 
enemy, who watched my motions and abandoned the place 
that morning. After the destruction of this town, in June last, 
the enemy had returned and cultivated their corn and pulse, 
which I found in high perfection, and in much greater quan- 
tity than at I'Anguille, [the French name of Ke-na-pa-com-a- 
qua.] To refresh my horses, and give time to cut down the 
corn, I determined to halt till the next moi-ning, and then to 
resume my march to the Kickapoo town, on the prairie, by 
the road which leads from Ouiatenon to that place. In the 
course of the day, I had discovered some murmurings and dis- 
content amongst the men, which I found, on enquiry, to pro- 
ceed from their reluctance to advance farther into the enemy's 
country. This induced me to call for a state of the horses and 
provisions; when, to my great mortification, two hundred and 
seventy horses were returned lame and tired, with barely five 
days' provisions for the men. Under these circumstances I 
was compelled to abandon my designs upon the Kickapoos of 
the prairies, and, with a degree of anguish not to be compre- 
hended but by those who have experienced similar disappoint- 
ments, I marched forward to a town of the same nation, situate 
about three leagues west of Ouiatenon : as I advanced to that 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 293 

town the enemy made some show of fighting me, but vanished 
at my approach. I destroyed this town, consisting of thirty 
houses, with a considerable quantity of corn in the milk, and 
the same day I moved on to Ouiatenon, where I forded the 
Wabash, and proceeded to the site of the villages on the mar- 
gin of the prairie, where I encamped at seven o'clock. At this 
town, and the villages destroyed by General Scott, in June, we 
found the corn had been replanted, and was now in high culti- 
vation, several fields being well ploughed ; all which was de- 
stroyed. On the 12th I resumed my march, and, falling into 
General Scott's return trace, I arrived, without any material 
incident, at the Rapids of the Ohio, on the 21st instant, [Au- 
gust,] after a march, by accurate computation, of four hundred 
and fifty-one miles from Fort Washington. 

" The volunteers of Kentucky have on this occasion acquit- 
ted themselves with their usual good conduct: but, as no op- 
portunity offered for individual distinction, it would be unjust 
to give one the plaudits to which they all have an equal title. 
I cannot, however, in propriety, forbear to express my warm 
approbation of the good conduct of my Majors, McDowell and 
Caldwell ; and of Colonel Russell, who, in the character of a 
volunteer, without commission, led my advance; and I feel 
myself under obligations to Major Adair and Captain Parker, 
who acted immediately about my person, for the services they 
rendered me, by most prompt, active, and energetic exertions. 

" The services which I have been able to render, fall short 
of my wishes, my intentions, and my expectations. But, sir, 
when you reflect on the causes which checked my career and 
blasted my designs, I flatter myself you will believe every thing 
has been done which could be done in my circumstances. I 
have destroyed the chief town of the Ouiatenon nation, and 
made prisoners of the sons and sisters of the king: I have burnt 
a respectable Kickapoo village, and cut down at least four hun- 
dred and thirty acres of corn, chiefly in the milk. The Ouia- 
tenons, [Weas,] left without houses, home, or provisions, must 
cease to war, and will find active employ to subsist their squaws 
and children during the impending winter." 



294 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

The three successive expeditions, under Harmar, Scott, and 
Wilkinson, fell with considerable severity on the tribes of the 
Miami and Shawanee nations. Many of their people were 
killed; their principal villages were plundered and destroyed; 
their cultivated fields were laid waste ; and a number of their 
men, women, and children, were taken and carried into cap- 
tivity. But, impressed with the opinion that the United States 
wished to deprive them of their lands and to exterminate their 
race, these tribes, instead of being subdued by their misfortunes, 
were aroused to a state of angry excitement which bordered 
on desperation. To aid them in their war against the United 
States they called to their assistance numbers of warriors from 
the Delaware, Wyandot, Kickapoo, Pottawattamie, Ottawa, 
Chippewa, and other northern tribes ; and while Governor St. 
Clair was making preparations to establish a military post at 
the Miami village, the Miami chief Little Turtle, the Shawanee 
chief Blue Jacket, and the Delaware chief Buck-ong-a-helas, 
were actively engaged in an effort to organize a confederacy 
of tribes sufficiently powerful to drive the white settlers from 
the territory lying on the northwestern side of the river Ohio. 
These chiefs received counsel and aid from Simon Girty, Alex- 
ander McKee, Matthew Elliott,*' and from a number of British, 
French, and American traders, who generally resided among 
the Indians, and supplied them with arms and ammunition, in 
exchange for furs and peltries. At this time the government of 
Great Britain still supported garrisons at the posts of Niagara, 
Detroit, and Michilimackinack, notwithstanding it was decla- 
red, by the seventh article of the definitive treaty of peace of 
1783, that the king of Great Britain would " with all conve- 
nient speed, and without causing any destruction, or carrying 
away any negroes or property of the American inhabitants, 
withdraw all his forces, garrisons, and fleets, from the United 
States, and from every post, place, and harbor within the 
same."t It is here proper to note the grounds on Avhich 
Great Britain, from 1783 to 1796, refused to withdraw her 

*McKee and Elliott were subordinate agents in the Pritish Indian Department. 
fT.aws United States, i. 205. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 295 

garrisons from the territory of the United States northwest of 
the river Ohio. The fourth article of the treaty of peace of 
1783, was in these words, viz: "It is agreed that the creditors 
on either side shall meet with no lawful impediment to the 
recovery of the full value in sterling money, of all bona fide 
debts heretofore contracted." * On the Sth of December, 1785, 
John Adams, Esq. American Minister at London, laid before 
the British Secretary of State, a memorial which contained 
the following passages : 

" Although a period of three years has elapsed since the sig- 
nature of the preliminary treaty, and of more than two years 
since that of the definitive treaty, the posts of Oswegatchy, 
Oswego, Niagara, Presque Isle, Sandusky, Detroit, Michili- 
mackinack, with others not necessary to be particularly enu- 
merated, and a considerable territory round each of them, all 
within the incontestible limits of the United States, are still 
held by British garrisons, to the loss and injury of the United 
States. The subscriber, therefore, in the name and behalf of 
the said United States, and in obedience to their express com- 
mands, has the honor to require of his Britannic Majesty's 
Ministry, that all his Majesty's armies and garrisons be forth- 
with withdrawn from the United States, from all and every of 
the posts and fortresses herein before enumerated, and from 
every other post, place, and harbor within the territory of the 
United States, according to the true intention of the treaties 
aforesaid." f 

On the 28th of February, 1786, the British Secretary of 
State, Lord Carmarthen, in an answer to Mr. Adams, said, " I 
have to observe to you, sir, that it is his Majesty's fixed deter- 
mination, upon the present as well as every other occasion, to 
act in perfect conformity to the strictest principles of justice 
and good faith. The seventh article both of the provisional 
and of the definitive treaties between his Majesty and the Uni- 
ted States clearly stipulates the withdrawing with all conve- 
nient speed, his Majesty's armies, garrisons, and fleets, from 

*Lawa United States, i, 204. 
fSecrct Journal of Congress, iv. 186. 



296 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the said United States, and from every post, place, and harbor 
within the same; and no doubt can possibly arise respecting 
either the letter or spirit of such an engagement. The fourth 
article of the same treaties as clearly stipulates, that creditors 
on either side shall meet with no lawful impediment to the re- 
covery of the full value in sterling money, of all bona fide debts 
heretofore contracted. The little attention paid to the fulfil- 
ling this engagement on the part of the subjects of the United 
States in general, and the direct breach of it in many particular 
instances,* have already reduced many of the King's subjects 
to the utmost degree of difficulty and distress: nor have their 
applications for redress, to those whose situations in America 
naturally pointed them out as the guardians of the public faith, 
been as yet successful in obtaining them that justice to which, 
on every principle of law as well as of humanity, they were 
clearly and indisputably entitled. The engagements entered 
into by treaty ought to be mutual and equally binding on the 
respective contracting parties. It would, therefore, be the 
height of folly as well as injustice, to suppose one party alone 
obliged to a strict observance of the public faith, while the 
other might remain free to deviate from its own engagements, 
as often as convenience might render such deviation necessary, 
though at the expense of its own national credit and impor- 
tance. I flatter myself, however, sir, that justice will speedily 
be done to British creditors ; and, I can assure you, sir, that 
whenever America shall manifest a real determination to fulfil 
her part of the treaty, Great Britain will not hesitate to prove 
her sincerity to co-operate in whatever points depend upon her 
for carrying every article of it into real and complete effect." f 
In the answer from Lord Carmarthen to Mr. Adams, the 
government of the United States saw the ostensible grounds 
on which Great Britain continued to keep possession of the 
important military and trading posts at Niagara, Detroit, and 

:t<Soon after the treaty of peace was ratified, some of the states passed laws which were 
designed to restrain and impede the collection of debts due from American citizens to 
British subjects. 

tSecret Journal of Congress, iv. 187. 



HISTORICAL NOTEfe. 297 

Michilimackinack. There were other considerations, however, 
which, at this period, influenced in no slight degree, the policy 
of the British Ministry. The Fur Trade, a very profitable 
branch of commerce, was carried on almost exclusively by 
Englishmen and Canadians, who were subjects of Great Brit- 
ain, and who, by intermarriages with squaws, and a pacific 
course of trade, had acquired considerable influence over all 
the Indian tribes of the country northwest of the Ohio. These 
advantages were too well understood, and too highly appre- 
ciated, by Great Britain, to be given up by that government 
while it could show either a good reason or a plausible pretext 
for retaining them; and, of course, the British Cabinet viewed 
with feelings of disapprobation and jealousy, the efforts of the 
government of the United States to subjugate the Indian tribes 
and to lay the foundations of independent states in the vast 
territories on the northwestern side of the river Ohio. Such 
were the views and sentiments of the British Ministers in 1791, 
when Governor St. Clair was collecting an army at Fort Wash- 
ington, for the purpose of establishing a strong military post at 
the Miami village, in the midst of various tribes of Indians who 
were nominally under the protection of Great Britain.- 
38 



CHAPTER XV. 

On the 28th of March, 1791, Governor St. Clair left the city 
of Philadelphia, and proceeded to Pittsburgh, which place he 
reached on the I6th of April. From Pittsburgh he went to 
Lexington, in the district of Kentucky; and from thence to 
Fort Washington, where he arrived on the 15th of May. At 
this time the garrison of regular troops at Fort Washington 
consisted of seventy-five non-commissioned officers and pri- 
vates fit for duty. At Fort Harmar the garrison consisted of 
forty-five, rank and file ; at Fort Steuben there were sixty-one 
regulars ; and at Fort Knox (Vincennes) eighty-three. About 
the 15th of July, the whole of the first United States regiment, 
amounting to two hundred and ninety-nine non-commissioned 
officers and privates, arrived at Fort Washington, under orders 
from Governor St. Clair, the commander in chief. General 
Richard Butler, who, early in 1791, was appointed second in 
command of the proposed expedition against the Miami village, 
immediately after his appointment began to make arrangements 
for raising the number of regular troops authorized by the act 
of Congress of the 3d of March. The recruits were drawn 
principally from the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ma- 
ryland, and Virginia; but they were raised slowly, owing 
partly to the fact that the wages of a daily laborer was greater 
than that which was paid to a common soldier. The business 
of the Quartermaster's Department was managed very badly; 
and other embarrassing circumstances impeded the operations 
of St. Clair and Butler, during the spring and summer of 1791. 
Although the most active exertions were made to raise the re- 
quired number of troops and march them to the frontiers, the 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 299 

army was not collected at Fort Washington, until the month 
of September, nor was the establishment even then complete. 
By virtue of the powers with which Governor St. Clair was 
invested, he made a call for one thousand one hundred and 
fifty militia from the district of Kentucky, to supply the defi- 
ciency of the regular recruits. Of this number only about four 
hundred and eighteen Kentucky militia appeared at Fort Wash- 
ington to join the expedition. 

Early in the month of September, the main body of the 
army, under the immediate command of General Butler, mo- 
ved from Ludlow's Station, in the vicinity of Fort Washington, 
and continued its march northward about twenty-five miles, 
when, on the 17th of September, it halted on the eastern bank 
of the Great Miami river, and erected a fort which was called 
Fort Hamilton. Having completed this fort, the army, on the 
4th of October, continued its march towards the Miami village, 
and at a point about twenty miles north of Fort Hamilton 
erected a light fortification, which was called Fort St. Clair. 
Advancing northward about twenty-two miles from Fort St. 
Clair, the army halted and erected another fort which was 
called Fort Jefferson. This fort was built on a site which lies 
about six miles south of the present town of Greenville, in 
Darke County, Ohio. The army was delayed five or six days, 
on the march from Fort Jefferson, on account of the want of 
provisions ; and the season was so far advanced that sufficient 
green forage could not be procured for the horses. The fol- 
lowing memoranda are extracted from the journal of Governor 
St. Clair: 

"24th October, 179L — Named the Fort Jefferson, (it Hes 
in lat. 40° 4' 22^^ north,) and marched, the same Indian path 
serving to conduct us about six miles, and encamped on good 
ground and an excellent position — a rivulet in front, and a 
very large prairie, which would, at the proper season, afford 
forage for a thousand horses, on the left. So ill this day, that 
I had much difficulty in keeping with the army. 

•*25th. — Very hard rains last night: obliged to halt to-day, 
on account of provisions; for though the soldiers may be kept 



300 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

pretty easy in camp, under the expectation of provision arri- 
ving, they cannot bear to march in advance, and take none 
along with them. I received a letter from Mr. Hodgdon by ex- 
press ; thirteen thousand pounds of flour will arrive on the 27th. 

*'26th. — A party of militia, sent to reconnoitre, fell in with 
five Indians and suffered them to slip through their fingers: in 
their camp articles to the value of twenty-five dollars were 
found and divided." 

"28th. — Some few Indians about us; probably those the 
militia fell in with a day or two ago. Two of the levies were 
fired on about three miles off: one killed; two of the militia 
likewise ; one of them got in ; the other missing ; supposed to 
be taken." 

"30th. — The army moved about nine o'clock, and, with 
much difficulty, made seven miles, having left a considerable 
part of the tents by the way ; the provision made by the Quar- 
termaster for that purpose was not adequate; three days' flour 
issued to the men, to add the horses that carried it to his ar- 
rangements: the Indian road still with us. The course this 
day north 25° west. 

"31st. — This morning about sixty of the militia deserted: it 
was at first reported that one half of them had gone off", and 
that their design was to plunder the convoys [of provisions, 
&c.] which were upon the roads. Detached the first regiment 
in pursuit of them, with orders to Major Hamtramck to send a 
sufficient guard back with [the convoy under] Benham, and to 
follow the militia about twenty-five miles below Fort Jefferson, 
or until he met the second convoy, and then return and join 
the army. 

"1st November. — Benham arrived last night; and to-day 
the army is halted, to give the road cutters an opportunity of 
getting some distance ahead. * * * I am this day consider- 
ably recovered, and hope that it will turn out Avhat I at first 
expected it would be, a friendly fit of the gout come to relieve 
me from every other complafnt." 

On the 3d of November, the main army, consisting of about 
fourteen hundred effective men, movedforward to a point near 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 301 

which Fort Recovery was afterwards erected. Here on the 
head waters of the Wabash river, among a number of small 
creeks, the army encamped. The right wing of the army, 
commanded by Major General Butler, and composed of the 
battalions under Majors Butler, Clarke, and Paterson, lay in 
front of a creek about twelve vards wide, and formed the first 
line. The left wing, composed of the battalions under Bed- 
inger and Gaither, and the second regiment under the com- 
mand of Lieutenant Colonel William Darke, formed the second 
line. Between the two lines there was a space of about sev- 
enty yards, which was all that the ground would allow. The 
right flank was supposed to be protected by the creek ; and 
the left was covered by a steep bank, a corps of cavalry, and 
some piquets. The militia marched over the creek, and en- 
camped in two lines, about one quarter of a mile in advance 
of the main army. There was snow on the ground; and two 
rows of fires were made between Butler's and Darke's lines, 
and, also two rows between the lines of the militia. While 
the militia were crossing the creek a few Indians were seen 
hovering about the army, but they fled precipitately as soon as 
they were discovered. 

At this time the Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, Buck-ong-a-he- 
las, and other Indian chiefs of less distinction, were lying a 
few miles distant from St. Clair's army, with about twelve 
hundred warriors, awaitinsr a favorable moment to besrin an 
attack. Simon Girty, and some other white men were with 
the Indians. 

In a letter, dated "Fort Washington, November 9th, 1791," 
and addressed to the Secretary of War, Governor St. Clair 
said: — "At this place, [the ground on which the army was 
encamped on the evening of the 3d of November,] which I 
judged to be about fifteen miles from the Miami village, I deter- 
mined to throw up a slight work, the plan of which was con- 
certed that evening with Major Ferguson, wherein to have 
deposited the men's knapsacks, and every thing else that was 
not of absolute necessity, and to have moved on to attack the 
enemy as soon as the first regiment was come up. But they 



302 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

did not permit me to execute either: for, on the 4th, about 
half an hour before sunrise, and when the men had been just 
dismissed from parade, (for it was a constant practice to have 
them all under arms a considerable time before day-light,) an 
attack was made upon the militia. Those gave way in a very 
little time and rushed into camp through Major Butler's bat- 
talion, (which, together with a part of Clarke's, they threw 
into considerable disorder, and which, notwithstanding the ex- 
ertions of both those officers, was never altogether remedied,) 
the Indians following close at their heels. The fire, however, 
of the front line checked them; but almost instantly a very 
heavy attack began upon that line ; and in a few minutes it 
was extended to the second likewise. The great weight of it 
was directed against the centre of each, where the artillery 
was placed, and from which the men were repeatedly driven 
with great slaughter. Finding no great effect from our fire, 
and confusion beginning to spread from the great number of 
men who were falling in all quarters, it became necessary to 
try what could be done by the bayonet. Lieutenant Colonel 
Darke was accordingly ordered to make a charge with part of 
the second line, and to turn the left flank of the enemy. This 
w^as executed with great spirit. The Indians instantly gave 
way, and were driven back three or four hundred yards ; but 
for want of a sufficient number of riflemen to pursue this ad- 
vantage, they soon returned, and the troops were obliged to 
give back in their turn. At this moment they had entered our 
camp by the left flank, having pushed back the troops that 
were posted there. Another charge was made here by the 
second regiment, Butler's and Clarke's battalions, with equal 
effect, and it was repeated several times and always with suc- 
cess : but in all of them many men were lost, and particularly 
the officers, which, with so raw troops, was a loss altogether 
irremediable. In that I just spoke of, made by the second 
regiment and Butler's battalion, Major Butler was danger- 
ously wounded, and every officer of the second regiment fell 
except three, one of which, Mr. Greaton, was shot through 
the body. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 303 

" Our artillery being now silenced, and all the officers killed 
except Captain Ford, who was very badly wounded, and more 
than half of the army fallen, being cut off from the road, it 
became necessary to attempt the regaining it, and to make a 
retreat, if possible. To this purpose the remains of the army 
was formed as well as circumstances would admit, towards the 
right of the encampment, from which, by the way of the se- 
cond line, another charge was made upon the enemy, as if with 
the design to turn their right flank, but in fact, to gain the road. 
This was effected, and as soon as it was open, the militia took 
along it, followed by the troops ; Major Clarke, with his bat- 
talion, covering the rear. 

" The retreat, in those circumstances, was, you may be sure, 
a very precipitate one. It was, in fact, a flight. The camp 
and the artillery were abandoned ; but that was unavoidable ; 
for not a horse was left alive to have drawn it off", had it other- 
wise been practicable. But, the most disgraceful part of the 
business is, that the greatest part of the men threw away their 
arms and accoutrements, even after the pursuit, which contin- 
ued about four miles, had ceased. I found the road strewed 
with them for many miles, but was not able to remedy it ; for, 
having had all my horses killed, and being mounted upon one 
that could not be pricked out of a walk, I could not get forward 
myself; and the orders I sent forward either to halt the front, 
or to prevent the men from parting with their arms, were 
unattended to. The route continued quite to Fort Jefferson, 
twenty-nine miles, which was reached a little after sun-setting. 
The action began about half an hour before sunrise, and the 
retreat was attempted at half an hour after nine o'clock. I 
have not yet been able to get returns of the killed and wound- 
ed; but Major General Butler, Lieutenant Colonel Oldham, of 
the militia. Major Ferguson, Major Hart, and Major Clarke, 
are among the former: Colonel Sargent, my Adjutant General, 
Lieutenant Colonel Darke, Lieutenant Colonel Gibson, Major 
Batler, and the Viscount Malartie, who served me as an aid- 
de-camp, are among the latter; and a great number of captains 
and subalterns in both. 



304 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

"I have now, sir, finished my melancholy tale — a tale that 
will be felt sensibly by every one that has sympathy for private 
distress, or for public misfortune. I have nothing, sir, to lay 
to the charge of the troops, but their want of discipline, which, 
from the short time they had been in service, it was impossible 
they should have acquired, and which rendered it very difficult 
when they were thrown into confusion, to reduce them again 
to order, and is one reason why the loss has fallen so heavy on 
the officers, who did every thing in their power to effect it. 
Neither were my own exertions wanting : but, worn down 
with illness, and suffering under a painful disease, unable either 
to mount or dismount a horse without assistance, they were 
not so great as they otherwise would, and perhaps ought to 
have been. We were overpowered by numbers ; but it is no 
more than justice to observe, that, though composed of so 
many different species of troops, the utmost harmony prevailed 
through the whole army during the campaign. At Fort Jeffer- 
son I found the first regiment, which had returned from the 
service they had been sent upon, without either overtaking 
the deserters, or meeting the convoy of provisions. I am not 
certain, sir, whether I ought to consider the absence of this 
regiment from the field of action, as fortunate or otherwise. 
I incline to think it was fortunate: for, I very much doubt 
whether, had it been in the action, the fortune of the day had 
been turned; and, if it had not, the triumph of the enemy 
would have been more complete, and the country would have 
been destitute of every means of defence. Taking a view of 
the situation of our broken troops at Fort Jefferson, and that 
there was no provision in the fort, I called upon the field offi- 
cers, viz: Lieutenant Colonel Darke, Major Hamtramck, Major 
Zeigler, and JMajor Gaither, together with the Adjutant Gene- 
ral, [Winthrop Sargent,] for their advice what would be pro- 
per further to be done ; and it was their unanimous opinion, 
that the addition of the first regiment, unbroken as it was, did 
not put the army on so respectable a foot as it was in the morn- 
ing, because a great part of it was now unarmed ; that it had 
then been found unequal to the enemy, and should they come 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 305 

i 

on, which was possible, would be found so again : that the troops 
could not be thrown into the iort, both because it was too 
small, and that there were no provisions in it : that provisions 
were known to be upon the road, at the distance of one, or at 
most two marches : that, therefore, it would be proper to move 
without loss of time, to meet the provisions, when the men 
might have the sooner an opportunity of some refreshment, 
and that a proper detachment might be sent back with it, to 
have it safely deposited in the fort. This advice was accepted, 
and the army was put in motion at ten o'clock, and marched 
all night, and the succeeding day met with a quantity of flour. 
Part of it was distributed immediately, part taken back to sup- 
ply the army on the march to Fort Hamilton, and the remain- 
der, about fifty horse loads, sent forward to Fort Jefferson. 
The next day a drove of cattle was met with for the same 
place, and I have information that both got in. The wounded, 
who had been left at that place, were ordered to be brought 
to Fort Washington by the return horses. 

"I have said, sir, in a former part of this letter that we were 
overpowered by numbers. Of that, however, I have no other 
evidence but the weight of the fire, which was always a most 
deadly one, and generally delivered from the ground — few of 
the enemy showing themselves afoot, except when they were 
charged ; and that, in a few minutes our whole camp, which 
extended above three hundred and fifty yards in length, was 
entirely surrounded, and attacked on all quarters. The loss, 
sir, the public has sustained by the fall of so many officers, par- 
ticularly General Butler and Major Ferguson, cannot be too 
much regretted ; but it is a circumstance that will alleviate the 
misfortune in some measure, that all of them fell most gallantly 
doing their duty. I have had very particular obligations to 
many of them, as well as to the survivors, but to none more 
than to Colonel Sargent. He has discharged the various duties 
of his office with zeal, with exactness, and with intelligence ; 
and on all occasions affi)rded me every assistance in his power, 
which I have also experienced from my aid-de-camp, Lieuten- 

39 



306 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

ant Denny, and the Viscount Malartie, who served with me in 
the station as a volunteer." 

In the disastrous action of the 4th of November, 1791, St. 
Clair lost thirty-nine officers killed ; and five hundred and nine- 
ty-three men killed and missing. Twenty-two officers, and 
two hundred and forty-two men were wounded. The officers 
killed were, Major General Richard Butler, Lieutenant Colonel 
Oldham, of the Kentucky militia; Majors Ferguson, Clarke, 
and Hart; Captains Bradford, Phelon, Kirk wood, Price, Van 
Swearingen, Tipton, Smith, Purdy, Piatt, Guthrie, Cribbs, and 
Newman ; Lieutenants Spear, Warren, Boyd, McMath, Read, 
Burgess, Kelso, Little, Hopper, and Lickins; Ensigns Balch, 
Cobb, Chace, Turner, Wilson, Brooks, Beatty, and Purdy; 
Quartermasters Reynolds, and Ward; Adjutant Anderson; 
and Doctor Grasson. The officers wounded were. Lieutenant 
Colonels Gibson, Darke, and Sargent, (Adjutant General;) Ma- 
jor Butler; Captains Doyle, Trueman, Ford, Buchanan, Darke 
and Hough ; Lieutenants Greaton, Davidson, De Butts, Price, 
Morgan, McCrea, Lysle, and Thomson; Ensign Bines; Adju- 
tants Whistler and Crawford ; and the Viscount Malartie, vol- 
unteer aid-de-camp to the commander in chief. Several pieces 
of artillery, and all the baggage, ammunition, and provisions, 
were left on the field of battle, and fell into the hands of the 
Indians. The stores and other public property, lost in the 
action, were valued at thirty-two thousand eight hundred and 
ten dollars and seventy-five cents.* The loss of the Miamies 
and their confederates has never been satisfactorily ascertained; 
but it did not, probably, exceed one hundred and fifty, in killed 
and wounded. 

With the army of St. Clair, following the fortunes of their 
husbands, there were more than one hundred women.f Very 
few escaped the carnage of the 4th of November, and after 
the ffight of the remnant of the army, the Indians began to 
avenge their own real and imaginary wrongs by perpetrating 

*Report of Secretary of War, December 11, 1792. 

tAtwater, in his History of Ohio, says 'there were about two hundred and fifty women.' 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 307 

the most horrible acts of cruelty and brutality upon the bodies 
of the living and the dead Americans who fell into their hands. 
Believing that the whites, for many years, made war merely 
to acquire land, the Indians crammed clay and sand into the 
eyes, and down the throats, of the dying and the dead. The 
field of action was visited by Brigadier General James Wilkin- 
son, at the head of a small detachment of mounted militia, on 
the 1st of February, 1792, about three months after the battle. 
In a letter, dated " Fort Washington, 13th February, 1792," 
written by Captain Robert Buntin, and addressed to Governor 
St. Clair, this expedition of Wilkinson is noticed as follows: 
" I went with General Wilkinson to the«field of action to re- 
cover the artillery carriages, which he was informed remained 
there, and to bury the dead. His little army for this excursion 
was composed of about one hundred and fifty regulars, and one 
hundred and thirty-one volunteer militia on horseback. He has 
a good talent for pleasing the people : there is no person in 
whom they have more confidence: none more capable to lead 
them on. It appears as if he made the Indian mode of warfare 
his study since he first came to this country. I think him highly 
worthy your friendship, from his attachment to your person 
and interest. 

" The regulars left Fort Washington, as an escort to provis- 
ions for Fort Jefferson, on the 24th ultimo — the snow about 
ten inches deep — and we marched next morning with the vol- 
unteers. The sledges which transported the forage delayed us 
so much that we did not get to Fort Jefferson until the 30th, 
about twelve o'clock. The General was much longer in get- 
ting to this place than he expected; and in order to expedite 
the business and avoid expense, he ordered the regulars to re- 
turn to Fort Washington. This morning, [30th,] the wind 
from the southward, with a constant fall of snow, rain, and 
hail, and a frost the following night, made the breaking of the 
road very difficult: though the front was changed every fifteen 
or twenty minutes, the road was marked with the horses' blood 
from the hardness of the crust on the snow. We left Fort 
Jefferson, about nine o'clock on the 31st, with the volunteers. 



308 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

and arrived within eight miles of the field of battle that evening, 
and next day we arrived at the ground about ten o'clock. The 
scene was truly melancholy. In my opinion those unfortunate 
men who fell into the enemy's hands, with life, were used with 
the greatest torture — having their limbs torn off; and the wo- 
men have been treated with the most indecent cruelty, having 
stakes, as thick as a person's arm, drove through their bodies. 
The first, I observed when burying the dead; and the latter 
was discovered by Colonel Sargent and Doctor Brown. We 
found three whole carriages ; the other five were so much dam- 
aged that they were rendered useless. By the General's orders 
pitts were dug in different places, and all the dead bodies that 
were exposed to view, or could be conveniently found (the 
snow being very deep) were buried. During this time, there 
was sundry parties detached, some for our safety, and others 
in examining the course of the creek; and some distance in 
advance of the ground occupied by the militia, they found a 
large camp, not less than three quarters of a mile long, which 
was supposed to be that of the Indians the night before the 
action. We remained on the field that night, and next morn- 
ing fixed geared horses to the carriages, and moved for Fort 
Jefferson. * * * As there is little reason to believe that the 
enemy have carried off the cannon, it is the received opinion 
that they are either buried, or thrown into the creek, and I 
think the latter the most probable ; but, as it was frozen over 
with a thick ice, and that covered with a deep snow, it was 
impossible to make a search, with any prospect of success. In 
a former part of this letter I have mentioned the camp occu- 
pied by the enemy the night before the action : had Colonel 
Oldham been able to have complied with your orders on that 
evening, things at this day might have worn a different as- 
pect." 

The defeat of the expedition under the command of St. Clair 
disappointed the expectations of the General Government of 
the United States, alarmed the inhabitants of the western dis- 
tricts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and checked, for a short 
period, the tide of emigration which had been flowing from the 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 309 

eastern and middle states into the territory northwest of the 
Ohio. The principal causes of the failure of the expedition 
were, the mismanagement of the Quartermaster's Department, 
the unfavorable season at which the army marched to attack 
the Indians, and the want of discipline in the troops. The fail- 
ure of the expedition cannot justly be imputed to the conduct 
of the commander in chief, at any time before or during the 
battle. St. Clair, however, resigned the office of Major Gen- 
eral ; and Anthony Wayne, a native of Chester County, Penn- 
sylvania, and a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary War, 
was appointed to fill his place. This officer, then in the forty- 
seventh year of his age, w^as intelligent, courageous, cautious, 
and energetic; and with him, in command, were associated 
Brigadier Generals James Wilkinson and Thomas Posey, who, 
as officers in the Revolutionary War, had acquired fair mili- 
tary reputation. Early in 1792, provisions were made by the 
General Government for re-organizing the military establish- 
ment of the United States, so that the army should consist of 
five thousand one hundred and twenty non-commissioned offi- 
cers, privates and musicians ; and it was determined that an 
adequate part of this force, which was called the Legion of the 
United States, should be raised as soon as possible, and placed 
upon the western frontiers, under the command of Major Gen- 
eral Wayne, and disciplined according to the nature of the 
service, in order to meet, with a prospect of success, the great- 
est probable combination of the hostile Indians. In the early 
part of the month of June, 1792, Wayne arrived at Pittsburgh, 
which was the place appointed for the rendezvous of the new 
recruits. Many of the most experienced officers having been 
slain in the defeats of Harmar and St. Clair, and others having 
resigned their commissions, the duties of Wayne became ardu- 
ous and full of perplexity. Several of the officers under his 
command, and nearly all the private soldiers were ignorant of 
military tactics, and without discipline ; but, in the words of 
a credible writer,* '' by the salutary measures adopted to in- 
troduce order and discipline, the army soon began to assume 

*Vide Atkinson's Casket, for 1830, quoted in Hall's Life of General Harrison, p. 25. 



310 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

its proper character. The troops were daily exercised in all 
the evolutions necessary to render them efficient soldiers, and 
more especially in those manoeuvres proper in a campaign 
against savages. Firing at a mark was constantly practised , 
and rewards given to the best marksmen. To inspire emula- 
tion, the riflemen and the infantry strove to excel, and the 
men soon attained to an accuracy that gave them confidence 
in their own prowess. On the artillery the General impressed 
the importance of that arm of the service. The dragoons he 
taught to rely on the broadsword, as all important to victory. 
The riflemen were made to see how much success must depend 
on their coolness, quickness, and accuracy ; while the infantry 
were led to place entire confidence in the bayonet, as the cer- 
tain and irresistible weapon before which the savages could 
not stand. The men were instructed to charge in open order ; 
each to rely on himself, and to prepare for a personal contest 
with the enemy." 

On the 28th of November, 1792, the army left Pittsburgh, 
and moved down the Ohio about twenty-two miles, to a point 
which was named Legionville, where it remained until the 
30th of April, 1793, when it moved in boats down the river to 
Fort Washington; and encamped near that fort at a place 
which was called " Hobson's Choice." At this place the main 
army was kept until the 7th of October, 1793: on the 23d 
of October the effective force under the command of Wayne 
amounted to about three thousand six hundred and thirty men. 
In addition to this force, a small number of friendly Indians, 
principally from the south, were engaged as auxiliaries in the 
service of the United States. Among these Indians there were 
about sixty Choctaws, under the command of a chief who was 
called General Humming Bird. In a report which was laid 
before the President of the United States, on the 26th of De- 
cember, 1791, the Secretary of War said, "The expediency of 
employing the Indians in alliance with us, against the hostile 
Indians, cannot be doubted. It has been shown before, how 
difficult, and even impracticable, it will probably be to restrain 
the young men of the friendly tribes. from action, and that if 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 311 

we do not employ them, they will be employed against us. 
The justice of engaging them would depend on the justice of 
the war. If the war be just on our part, it will certainly bear 
the test of examination, to use the same sort of means in our 
defence, as are used against us. The subscriber, therefore, 
submits it as his opinion, that it would be proper to employ 
judiciously, as to time and circumstances, as many of the 
friendly Indians as may be obtained, not exceeding one thou- 
sand in number." 

From the early part of the year 1792 to the 16th of August, 
1793, while Major General Wayne was recruiting and organi- 
zing his army, the government of the United States continued 
to make efforts to establish treaties of peace and friendship with 
the hostile tribes of the northwestern territory. In order to 
effect this object, and to acquire information of the movements 
and designs of the Indians, messengers with speeches, commis- 
sioners invested with powers to make treaties, and spies with 
secret instructions, were almost constantly employed, by the 
government and its officers. The messengers and the commis- 
sioners were instructed to assure the Indians " wi the strongest 
and most explicit terms, that the United States renounced all 
claim to any Indian land which had not been ceded by fair 
treaties, made with the Indian nations ;" * and, for the purpose 
of informing the Indians of the extent of the claims of the Uni- 
ted States, the commissioners were furnished with copies of the 
following treaties: 1. — A copy of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, 
made on the 22d of October, 1784. 2. — A copy of the treaty 
of Fort Mcintosh, made on the 21st of January, 1785. 3. — A 
copy of the treaty made at the mouth of the Great Miami river, 
on the 31st of January, 1786. 4. — Copies of the treaties made 
at Fort Harmar, on the 9th of January, 1789. To promote 
the object of the commissioners and the messengers, Wayne 
was instructed, in April, 1792, to issue a proclamation inform- 
ing the people of the frontiers of the proposed attempts to con- 
clude a treaty of peace, and prohibiting all offensive movements 

*Instructions from the Secretary of War to General Rufus Putnam, 22d May, 1792. 



312 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

of the whites, to the northward of the Ohio, until they should 
receive further information on the subject. 

At Vincennes, in March, 1792, Major Hamtramck concluded 
treaties of peace with some small parties of the Wea and Eel 
river tribes; and about the same time he despatched several 
messages to the hostile tribes. 

On the 7th of April, 1792, Brigadier General Wilkinson sent 
two messengers (Freeman and Gerrard) from Fort Washington 
with a speech to the Indians on the Maumee. These messen- 
gers were captured by a party of Indians, who, on being in- 
formed that their captives were messengers of peace, spared 
their lives, and conducted them towards the Rapids of the 
Maumee ; but, while moving on the route to that place. Free- 
man and Gerrard asked so many questions concerning the 
numbers of different tribes, the course of streams, &c. that 
their conductors took them to be spies, and killed them when 
they were within one day's march of the main body of the 
Indian councils. 

The following extract of a letter (dated " Fort Washington, 
April 10, 1792,") from Brigadier General Wilkinson to Captain 
John Armstrong, then the commanding officer at Fort Hamil- 
ton, will throw some light upon the nature of the perilous ser- 
vice of those who were employed as spies: — " My messengers, 
Freeman at the head, left this on the 7th, with a Big Talk, and 
are ordered to keep Harmar's trace, which will be an evidence 
to the enemy that they have no sinister designs in contempla- 
tion. If they are received, and are suffered to return they 
have my directions to come by Fort Jefierson. You must or- 
der William May to desert in a day or two, or must cover his 
departure by putting him in the way to be taken prisoner — 
as you may deem best. I consider the first preferable in one 
point of view ; that is, it would guard him effectually against 
any real desertion which may hereafter take place. It will be 
exceedingly difficult, if not impi'acticable, for him ever to make 
a second trip with success. However, that will depend, in a 
great measure, upon the fertility of his own genius. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 313 

"He should cross the Miami at or near your post, and keep 
a due north course — remarking, critically, the distance, ground 
and water courses over which he may pass, until he strikes the 
St. Mary's, the site of the old Miami village, and the first town. 
His first business will be to find out what has become of my 
messengers. If they have been received and well treated, he 
may authenticate the sincerity and good faith which has pre- 
scribed their journey. For this purpose, he must be made 
acquainted with the departure of the messengers, and the order 
restraining offensive hostilities. But if they have been killed, 
or made prisoners, and the enemy positively refuse to treat, 
then, so soon as he clearly ascertains these facts, he must re- 
turn to us by the nearest and safest route. If this occasion 
should not present, he is to continue with the enemy — and is, 
at all events, to acquire their confidence. To this end, he 
must shave his head — assume their dress — adopt their habits 
and manners — and always be ready for the hunt, or for war. 
His greatest object, during his residence with the enemy, will 
be to find out the names of the nations which compose the 
confederacy now at war — their numbers, and the situation of 
their respective towns, as to course and distance from the old 
Miami village, and the locality of each. He will discover the 
names, residence, interests, and influence of all the white men 
now connected with those savages; and whether the British 
stimulate, aid, or abet them, and in what manner — whether 
openly by the servants of government or indirectly by traders. 
He will labor to develope what are the general determinations 
of the savages, in case the war is continued and we gain pos- 
session of their country. Having made himself master of these 
points, or as far as may be practicable, he will embrace the first 
important occasion to come into us. Such will be the moment 
when the enemy collectively take the field and advance against 
our army or a detachment of it, and have approached it within 
a day's march. 

" Should he execute this mission with integrity and effect, 1 
pledge myself to restore him to his country ; and will use my 
40 



314 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

endeavors lo get him some little establishment to make his old 
age comfortable." * 

About the 20th of May, 1792, Major Alexander Trueman, 
of the first United States regiment, and Colonel John Hardin, 
of Kentucky, left Fort Washington with copies of a speech 
from President Washington to the hostile Indians. Major 
Trueman was engaged in this service by his own consent and 
desire, and he was joined by Colonel Hardin, who undertook 
to discharge the duties of a peace messenger, at the request of 
Wilkinson. The speech with which these officers were charged 
was addressed "To all the Sachems and Warriors of the tribes 
inhabiting the Miami river of Lake Erie, and the waters of the 
Wabash river, the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, 
Pottawattamies, and all other tribes residing to the southward 
of the Lakes east of the Mississippi, and to the northward of 
the river Ohio ; " and it contained the passages which follow : 
" Brothers : The President of the United States, General Wash- 
ington, the great chief of the nation speaks to you by this ad- 
dress. Summon, therefore, your utmost powers of attention, 
and hear the important things which shall be spoken to you 
concerning your future welfare ; and after having heard and 
well understood all things, invoke the Great Spirit above to 
give you due deliberation and wisdom, to decide upon a line of 
conduct that shall best promote your happiness, and the happi- 
ness of your children, and perpetuate you and them on the 
land of your forefathers. Brothers : The President of the Uni- 
ted States entertains the opinion that the war which exists is 
founded in error and mistake on your parts : That you believe 
the United States wants to deprive you of your lands, and 
drive you out of the country. Be assured this is not so : on 
the contrary, that we should be greatly gratified with the op- 
portunity of imparting to you all the blessings of civilized life, 

* May deserted, according to orders, and continued to reside among tlie Indians, until 
the latter part of September, 1792, when he left them, and arrived at Pittsburgh, and made 
a report to Major General Wayne. On the 18th of August, 1794, May was captured by 
the Indians, near the Rapids of the Maumee : on the next day he was tied to a tree and 
shot. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 315 

of teaching you to cultivate the earth, and raise corn ; to raise 
oxen, sheep, and other domestic animals; to build comfortable 
houses, and to educate your children, so as ever to dwell upon 
the land. * * * War, at all times, is a dreadful evil to those 
who are engaged therein, and more particularly so where a 
few people engage to act against so great numbers as the peo- 
ple of the United States. Brothers : Do not suffer the advan- 
tages you have gained to mislead your judgment, and influence 
you to continue the war; but reflect upon the destructive con- 
sequences which must attend such a measure. The President 
of the United States is highly desirous of seeing a number of 
your principal chiefs, and convincing you, in person, how much 
he wishes to avoid the evils of war for your sake, and the sake 
of humanity. Consult, therefore, upon the great object of peace; 
call in your parties, and enjoin a cessation of all further depre- 
dations; and as many of the principal chiefs as shall choose, 
repair to Philadelphia, the seat of the General Government, 
and there make a peace founded on the principles of justice 
and humanity. Remember that no additional lands will be 
required of you, or any other tribe, to those that have been 
ceded by former treaties, particularly by the tribes who had a 
right to make the treaty of Muskingum, [Fort Harmar,] in the 
year 1789. But, if any of your tribes can prove that you have 
a fair right to any lands comprehended by the said treaty, and 
have not been compensated therefor, you shall receive a full 
satisfaction upon that head. The chiefs you send shall be safe- 
ly escorted to this city ; and shall be well fed and provided 
with all things for their journey. * * * Come, then, and be 
convinced for yourselves, of the beneficence of General Wash- 
ington, the great chief of the United States, and afterwards 
return and spread the glad tidings of peace and prosperity of 
the Indians to the setting sun." 

By an agreement between Hardin and Trueman, they resol- 
ved to follow Harmar's trace for some distance, and then to 
separate ; the former to go among the Indians about Sandusky, 
and the latter to proceed to the Rapids of the Maumee. These 
officers lost their lives on their mission of peace. The place 



316 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

and the circumstances of their death are involved in obscurity. 
A deposition, which was made by WiUiam May,* before Major 
General Wayne, on the II th of October, 1792, contained the 
statement which here follows : — " That, in the latter end of 
June, [1792,] some Indians came on board the vessel for pro- 
visions; among whom was one who had two scalps upon a 
stick; one of them he knew to be William Lynch's, (Major 
Trueman's waiter,) with whom he [May] was well acquainted; 
he had light hair. That he mentioned at once whose scalp it 
was. The other they said was Major Trueman's: it was dark- 
er than Lynch's. The manner in which Trueman was killed, 
was mentioned by the Indian Avho killed him, to an Indian who 
used to go in the vessel with May, in his presence, and imme- 
diately interpreted, viz: This Indian and an Indian boy having 
met with Trueman, his waiter Lynch, and the interpreter Wil- 
liam Smalley ; that Trueman gave the Indian a belt ; that after 
being together three or four hours the Indians were going to 
leave them. Trueman enquired the reason from the interpre- 
ter, who answered that the Indians were alarmed, lest, there 
being three to two, they might injure them in the night. Upon 
which, Trueman told them they might tie both his servant and 
himself. That his boy. Lynch, was first tied and then True- 
man. The moment Trueman was tied the Indian tomahawked 
and scalped him, and then the boy. That the papers in pos- 
session of Trueman were given to Mr. McKee, who sent them 
by a Frenchman called Captain Le Motte, to Detroit, on board 
the schooner of which he, May, had the charge. That, upon 
his return from Detroit to the Rapids [of the Maumee] he saw 
a scalp said to be Hardin's ; that he also saw a flag by the route 
of Sandusky; and that the hair was dark brown; but don't 
know by what nation he was killed: these papers were also 
sent to Detroit, on board the schooner, by Mr. Elliott. That 
a Captain Brumley, of the fifth British Regiment, was in the 

* May, after leaving Fort Hamilton, was captured by a party of Indians, and by them 
sold to Captain Matthew Elliott, who placed him on board of a small schooner, which 
was used to transport provisions, &c. from Detroit to the Rapids of the Maumee. Colonel 
Alexander McKee and Captain Elliott kept stores at the Rapids. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 317 

action [of the 4th of November, 1791,] but did not learn that 
he took any command; that Lieutenant Sylvey, of the same 
regiment, was on his march with three hundred Indians, but 
did not get up in time to participate in the action ; that Simon 
Girty told him there were twelve hundred Indians at the place, 
but three hundred of them did not engage, who were taking 
care of the horses, exclusive of the three hundred with Lieu- 
tenant Sylvey ; in all fifteen hundred. * * * That it was the 
common opinion, and the common conversation that no peace 
would take place, unless the Ohio river be established as the 
boundary line between the Indians and the Americans." 

At Vincennes, on the 27th of September, 1792, Brigadier 
General Rufus Putnam, being accompanied on his mission by 
John Heckewelder, concluded a treaty of peace and friendship 
with thirty-one Indians of the Wabash and Illinois tribes. The 
following is a copy of this treaty : 

" A treaty of peace and friendship, made and concluded be- 
tween the President of the United States of America, on the 
part of the said States, and the undersigned kings, chiefs, and 
warriors, of the Wabash and Illinois Indian tribes, on the part 
and behalf of the said tribes: 

"The parties being desirous of establishing a permanent 
peace and friendship between the United States and the said 
Indian tribes, and the citizens and members thereof, and to 
remove the causes of war, the President of the United States 
by Rufus Putnam, one of the Judges of the Territory of the 
United States northwest of the river Ohio, and Brisradier Gen- 
eral in the army, whom he hath vested with full powers for 
these purposes ; and the said Wabash and Illinois tribes, by the 
undersigned kings, chiefs, and warriors, representing the said 
tribes, have agreed to the following articles, viz: 

"Article 1. — There shall be perpetual peace and friendship 
between all the citizens of the United States of America, and 
all the individuals, villages, and tribes, of the said Wabash and 
Illinois Indians. 

"Article 2. — The undersigned kings, chiefs, and warriors, 
for themselves, and all parts of their villages and tribes, do 



318 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the 
United States of America, and stipulate to live in amity and 
friendship with them. 

"Article 3. — The said tribes shall deliver, as soon as practi- 
cable, to the commanding officer at Fort Knox, all citizens of 
the United States, white inhabitants or negroes, who are now 
prisoners among any of the said tribes. 

"Article 4. — The United States solemnly guaranty to the 
Wabash and Illinois nations, or tribes of Indians, all the lands 
to which they have a just claim; and no part shall ever be 
taken from them, but by a fair purchase, and to their satisfac- 
tion. That the lands originally belonged to the Indians : it is 
theirs, and theirs only. That they have a right to sell, and a 
right to refuse to sell. And that the United States will pro- 
tect them in their said just rights. 

"Article 5. — The said kings, chiefs, and warriors solemnly 
promise, on their part, that no future hostilities or depredations 
shall be committed by them, or any belonging to the tribes 
they represent, against the persons or property of any of the 
citizens of the United States. That the practice of stealing 
negroes and horses from the people of Kentucky, and other 
inhabitants of the United States, shall forever cease. That 
they will, at all times, give notice to the citizens of the United 
States of any designs which they may know, or suspect to be 
formed, in any neighboring tribe, or by any person whatever, 
against the peace and interest of the United States. 

"Article 6. — In cases of violence on the persons or property 
of the individuals of either party, neither retaliation or reprisal 
shall be committed by the other until satisfaction shall have 
been demanded of the party, of which the aggressor is, and 
shall have been refused. 

" Article 7. — All animosities for past grievances shall hence- 
forth cease, and the contracting parties will carry the forego- 
ing treaty into full execution, with all good faith and sincerity. 

" In witness of all and every thing herein determined, be- 
tween the United States of America and the villages and tribes 
of the undersigned kings, chiefs, and warriors, the parties have 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 319 

hereunto set their hands and seals, at Post Vmcennes, on the 
Wabash river, this twenty-seventh day of September, 1792. 
RUFUS PUTNAM, Brigadier General, 
and Agent for making peace with the Indians." 

[Signed by thirty-one Indians of the Wabash and Illinois 
tribes.*] 

Early in the summer of 1792, Major Hamtramck received a 
speech from Lagesse, the principal chief of the Pottawattamie 
nation. In this speech the chief said — " We are very glad to 
hear from you; but sorry we cannot comply with your request 
[to send a deputation of chiefs to Fort Washington.] The 
situation of affairs in this country prevents us. We are every 
day threatened by the other Indians, that if we do not take a 
part with them against the Americans, they will destroy our 
villages. This, alone, my father, makes it necessary for all the 
chiefs to remain at home. * * * My father : You tell us you 
are ignorant why the red people makes war on your white 
people. We are as ignorant of it as you are : for, ever since 
the beginning of the war, we have laid still in our villages, al- 
though we have been repeatedly invited to go to war ; but, my 
father, the confidence we have in you has prevented us from 
making war against you, and we hold you by the hand with a 
stronger grip than ever. My father: Keep up your spirits 
more than ever; for you have this year more red people to 
fight than you have had yet. * * * If I could give you a hand 
I would do it ; but I cannot : and I am glad if me and my peo- 
ple can have a quiet life this summer. If I had been disposed 
to believe all the reports I have heard, I would have made your 
messengers prisoners ; for we are told they are spies, and that 
you have an army coming against us ; but I am deaf to every 
thing that comes from the Miamies. Every day we receive 
messengers from those people, but we have been deaf to them, 
and will remain so." 

♦This treaty was laid before the Senate of the United States, on the 13lh of February, 
1793. The fourth article was deemed particularly objectionable; and the Senate, after 
several consultations, finally, on the 9th of January, 1794, refused to ratify the treaty, by 
a vote of 21 to 4 [See Executive Journal of the Senate, i. 128, 134, 135. 144, 145. 146. 



320 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

During the months of July, August, and September, 1792, a 
great number of Indians, of the Miami, Pottawattamie, Dela- 
ware, Shawanee, Chippewa, Ottawa, and Wyandot tribes, as- 
sembled at the Rapids of the Maumee, for the purpose of hold- 
ing a grand council. About this time several chiefs of the Six 
Nations, at the request of the Secretary of War, visited the 
councils of the northwestern tribes, and made some efforts to 
induce the hostile Indians to establish a treaty of peace with 
the United States. The Indians in council, however, determi- 
ned that they would make no treaty that would confirm or 
acknowledge the claims of the United States to any portion of 
the territory northwest of the river Ohio. The grand council 
broke up about the 10th of October. 

In 1792 and 1793, while offensive operations against the 
northwestern Indians were prohibited by the government of 
the United States, small war parties, composed principally of 
Delawares and Shawanees, continued to lurk about the white 
settlements on the borders of the Ohio — way-laying the paths, 
capturing horses and cattle, killing some of the settlers, and 
carrying others into captivity. On the morning of the 6th of 
November, 1792, at day-break, about one hundred Kentucky 
militia, under the command of Major Adair, were attacked in 
their camp by a strong body of Indians, and forced, after a 
short engagement, to retire into Fort St. Clair, which was 
within gun-shot of the scene of action. In this skirmish the 
troops under Adair lost six men killed; and five wounded, to- 
gether with the camp equipage, and one hundred and forty 
pack-horses. In a letter which was sent to Brigadier General 
Wilkinson immediately after the action. Major Adair said^ — 
" My officers, and a number of my men distinguished them- 
selves greatly. Poor Hail died calling to his men to advance. 
Madison's bravery and conduct need no comment : they are 
well known. Flinn and Buchanan acted with a coolness and 
courage which does them much honor. Buchanan, after firing 
his gun, knocked an Indian down with the barrel. * * * lean, 
with propriety say that about fifty of my men fought with a 
bravery equal to any men in the world ; and had noi the gar- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 321 

rison been so nigh, as a place of safety for the bashful, I think 
many more would have fought well. The enemy have, no 
doubt, as many men killed as myself." 

At this time Fort Hamilton, Fort St. Clair, and Fort Jeffer- 
son, wei'e garrisoned by small detachments of regular troops, 
who were poorly clad, and generally destitute of money. On 
the 13th of September, 1792, Captain John Armstrong, the 
commanding officer at Fort Hamilton, wrote a letter to Wil- 
kinson, from which the following is an extract: "I must, my 
dear General, in justice to my own feelings and to the men I 
command, repeat my complaint on the subject of clothing. It 
is known to you, sir, that my command has been a continued 
scene of fatigue ; and it is a reflection upon the nation that the 
men should serve six months without clothing. They are now 
performing the duties of soldiers loithout a shirt or shoes, and 
seven months pay due them. What can the public expect 
from men thus treated? — called upon, naked as they are, to 
perform the hardest service; destitute of money to purchase 
for themselves even a chew of tobacco." 

In the course of the years 1790, 1791, and 1792, twenty- 
three statutes, providing for the administration of justice in the 
Territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, 
were adopted and published at Cincinnati, by Governor St. 
Clair, (or in his absence the acting Governor Winthrop Sar- 
gent,) and the Judges of the Superior Court of the territory. 
The following is a list of the titles of these statutes : 

I. — An act to alter the terms of General Court. — Passed 
on the 4th of November, 1790. [By this act it was declared 
that the several terms of the General Court of the territory 
should be held at the following times and places, viz: In the 
county of Knox, (at Vincennes) on the first Tuesday in May, 
yearly and every year. In the county of St. Clair, (at Kas- 
kaskia) on the second Tuesday in June, yearly and every year. 
In the county of Hamilton, (at Cincinnati) on the first Tuesday 
in October, yearly and every year: and in the county of Wash- 
ington, (at Marietta) on the second Tuesday in November, 

yearly and every year.] 
41 



322 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

II. — An act to augment the terms of the County Courts of 
Common Pleas from two to four terms in the year; and to in- 
crease the number of Judges in the said court, and also of the 
Justices of the Quorum in the several counties. — Passed on 
the 6th of November, 1790. [By this act the Governor was 
authorized to commission not less than three nor more than 
seven Judges in each county; and to increase the Justices of 
the Quorum, in the several counties, to any number not ex- 
ceeding nine in each and every county.] 

III. — An act to authorize and require the Courts of General 
Quarter Sessions of the Peace to divide the counties into town- 
ships, and to alter the boundaries of the same when necessary ; 
and also to appoint Constables, Overseers of the Poor, and 
Clerks of the townships ; and for other purposes therein men- 
tioned. — Passed on the 6th of November, 1790. 

IV. — An act supplementary to a law entitled "A law res- 
pecting crimes and punishments," published at Marietta, on 
the 6th of September, 1788. — Passed on the 22d day of June, 
1791. 

V. — An act for the punishment of persons tearing or defa- 
cing publications set up by authority. — Passed on the 22d day 
of June, 1791. [The second section of this act was in the 
words following: ^^And be it further enacted, That if, as afore- 
said, any pei'son shall wilfully and maliciously deface, obliter- 
ate, tear down, or destroy, in part or in whole, any publication 
of the Banns of Matrimony, or advertisement respecting Es- 
trays, or any other notification set up in pursuance of any act 
or law now or which hereafter may be in force within this 
territory, such offender shall for every such offence of which 
he may be convicted, as aforesaid, be set in the stocks for three 
hours and pay costs, or stand committed to prison till the same 
are paid : any thing in this or any other act or law to the con- 
trary notwithstanding.] 

VI. — An act creating the office of Clerk of the Legislature. 
Passed on the 22d day of June, 1791. 

VII. — An act for rendering authentic as evidence in the 
Courts of this Territory, the public acts, records and judicial 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 323 

proceedings of Courts in the United States. — Passed on the 
22d day of June, 1791. 

VIII. — An act abolishing the distinction between the crimes 
of Murder and Petit Treason. — Passed on the 22d day of June, 
1791. 

IX. — An act regulating the enclosures of grounds. — Passed 
on the 29th day of June, 1791. 

X. — An act to alter and amend the Militia Laws. — Passed 
on the 2d day of July, 1791. [By the second section of this 
law it was enacted " That whenever persons enrolled in the 
Militia of this territory shall assemble at any place of public 
worship, every such person shall arm and equip himself accor- 
ding to law, as if he were marching to engage the enemy."] 

XI. — An act for granting Licenses to Merchants, Traders, 
and Tavern-keepers. — Passed on the 1st day of August, 1792. 
[One of the clauses of the fifth section of this act was in these 
words : " And each and every person obtaining license from 
the commissioners as aforesaid, shall set up, in a proper man- 
ner, on the front and outside of his house next the street, a 
board or sign with his or her name written thereon, and some 
device expressive of his business as a Tavern-keeper or Retailer 
of Liquors, on which board or sign shall also be written in fair 
large letters ' By authority a Tavern,' or ' By authority a 
Retailer,' as the case may be.] 

XII. — An act creating the offices of Treasurer General of 
the Territory, and Treasurers for the Counties. — Passed on 
the 1st day of August, 1792. 

XIII. — An act directing the manner in which money shall 
be raised and levied to defray the charges which may arise 
within the several counties in the Territory. — Passed on the 
1st of August, 1792, 

XIV. — An act for opening and regulating Highways. — 
Passed on the 1st of August, 1792. 

XV. — An act directing the building and establishing of a 
Court House, County Jail, Pillory, Whipping Post and Stocks, 
in every county. — Passed on the 1st day of August, 1792. 



324 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

XVI. — An act for the better regulation of Prisons. — Passed 
on the 1st day of August, 1792. [By a clause in the fourth 
section of this act, it was declared that " the person assisting in 
an escape shall be punished by fine, imprisonment, whipping, 
pillory, or setting on the gallows with a rope about his or her 
neck ; or any one or more of the said punishments as the court 
having cognizance thereof shall think proper to inflict."] 

XVII. — An act for the disposition of Strays. — Passed on 
the 1st day of August, 1793. 

XVIII. — An act to repeal certain parts of an act entitled 
" an act creating the office of clerk of the Legislature." — Pass- 
ed on the 1st day of August, 1792. 

XIX. — An act supplementary to a law entitled " a law regu- 
lating Marriages." — Passed on the 1st day of August, 1792. 
[By this act Justices of the Peace were empowered to solem- 
nize marriages within their respective counties, on the banns 
being published according to law, or by special license from 
the Governor.] 

XX. — An act to regulate the admissions of Attorneys. — 
Passed on the 1st day of August, 1792. [By this act attorneys 
were required to take and subscribe an oath in the following 
form: "I swear that I will do no falsehood, nor consent to the 
doing of any, in the Courts of Justice ; and if I know of any 
intention to commit any, I will give knowledge thereof to the 
justices of the said courts or some of them, that it may be pre- 
vented. I will not wittingly or willingly promote or sue any 
false, groundless, or unlawful suit, nor give aid or counsel to 
the same ; and I will conduct myself in the office of an Attor- 
ney within the said courts according to the best of my knowl- 
edge and discretion, and with all good fidelity as well to the 
courts as my clients. So help me God." 

XXI. — An act empowering the Judge of Probate to appoint 
Guardians to Minors and others. — Passed on the 1st day of 
August, 1792. 

XXII. — An act prescribing the forms of writs in civil causes, 
and directing the mode of proceeding therein. — Passed on the 
1st day of August, 1792. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 325 

XXIII. — An act establishing and regulating the fees of the 
several officers and other persons therein mentioned. — Passed 
on the 1st day of August, 1792. [This act allowed " to the 
Attorney of the United States for drawing an Indictment in 
the Sessions, fifty cents. — To Jailors, for turning the key on 
the commitment of each prisoner, fifteen cents in and fifteen 
cents out." To the foreman of a Grand Jury, sixty cents per 
day; to each other Grand Juror fifty cents per day. To a 
Justice of the Peace, " for hearing a complaint, and issuing a 
warrant, twenty-five cents," etc.] 



CHAPTER XVI. 

On the 2d day of March, 1793, Benjamin Lincohi, of Massa- 
chusetts, Beverley Randolph, of Virginia, and Timothy Picker- 
ing, of Pennsylvania, were appointed, by the President of the 
United States, commissioners for the purpose of negotiating a 
peace with the nations of Indians in the northwestern terri- 
tory. These negotiators, or a majority of them, (or any one 
of them, in case of the death, sickness, or non-attendance of 
the other two,) were, by their public commissions, invested 
with " full power and authority to confer on, treat of, renew, 
conclude, and sign, with such persons as by the said nations 
shall appear to them to be fully authorized thereto, a treaty or 
treaties of peace and amity between the United States and the 
said Indian nations." The following passages are copied from 
the secret instructions which were given by the President of 
the United States to Messrs. Lincoln, Randolph and Pickering 
on the 26th day of April, 1793. 

" Gentlemen : You must be well aware of the extreme dis- 
like of the great majority of the citizens of the United States 
to an Indian war, in almost any event ; and with how much 
satisfaction they would embrace a peace upon terms of justice 
and humanity. To you, therefore, this negotiation is entrusted, 
with the hope that you will, by your intelligence and perseve- 
rance, be able to close a scene of hostilities, which, on the part 
of the United States, have been dictated by the protection due 
their frontier citizens. In order that you may possess all the 
knowledge in the power of the executive to give, you have 
herewith furnished the several papers upon this subject, enu- 
merated in the schedule annexed, which contains information, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 327 

from the peace between Great Britain and France, in the year 
1763, until" the present time. With respect to the treaties 
made between the United States and the several hostile tribes, 
since the peace with Great Britain in 1783, it is to he observed j 
that the treaty of Foi^t Harmar, made in January, 1789, is re- 
garded as having been formed on solid grounds — the principle 
being that of a fair purchase and sale. The Government con- 
siders the Six Nations, who claimed the lands by virtue of for- 
mer conquests, lying between the Ohio and Lake Erie, which 
were ceded and confirmed to the United States by said treaty 
with the said Six Nations, together with the Wyandots and 
Delawares, and Ottawas, and other western Indians, who were 
the actual occupants of the lands, as the proper owners thereof: 
that they had a right to convey the said lands to the United 
States : and that they did accordingly make the said convey- 
ance, with their free consent and full understanding. Parties, 
however, who were not at the treaty of Fort Harmar, may 
have been either at the treaty of Fort Mcintosh, or the Miami. 
Buck-ong-a-he-las, a chief of the Delawares, was at the latter. 
But, if it shall appear, upon a further investigation of the sub- 
ject, at the place of conference, that there were other tribes 
interested in the lands then ceded to the United States, than 
those who subscribed the said treaty, or that the consideration 
given was inadequate, it may be proper, in either or both cases, 
that a liberal compensation be made to the just claimants. 

" It will, therefore, be one of the first objects of the proposed 
treaty, to ascertain from the Indians what tribes are the allow- 
ed proprietors of the country lying to the northward of the 
Ohio and to the southward of the lakes. You will perceive by 
Hutchin's map, herewith delivered, the boundaries confirmed 
by the said treaty of Fort Harmar to the United States ; and, 
also, the tracts which have been granted by the United States 
to the late army, and to particular companies of men. You 
will endeavor, to the utmost of your power, to induce the tribes 
claiming a right to the said lands, to confirm the boundary 
established by the said treaty of Fort Harmar, with the Six 



328 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Nations, and Wyandots, Dela wares, «Scc. — for which purpose, 
you will, among other considerations, offer — 

"First: The guaranty of the United States of the right of 
soil, to all the remaining lands in that quarter, against the citi- 
zens or inhabitants of the United States. 

" Secondly : That the United States will relinquish the places 
mentioned in the said treaty as trading posts, to the northward 
of the general boundary; excepting, however, the grounds up- 
on which the forts are erected, now occupied by the British 
troops ; and which, by the treaty of peace of 1783, were ceded 
to the United States, together with the portions of land in the 
vicinity of said forts, in possession of the white inhabitants, 
and which have been purchased of the Indians. 

"Thirdly: The United States will relinquish any of the mili- 
tary posts, which shall appear to be established without the 
boundaries of the treaty of Fort Harmar, or the boundaries 
which you may agree upon. 

" Fourthly : That the United States will pay to the several 
tribes, in the proportions which shall be agreed upon, the sum 
of fifty thousand dollars, in goods, according to a tariff of arti- 
cles to be settled at the treaty. The tariff shall include the 
prime cost of the goods in Philadelphia or New York, together 
with the charge of the transportation to the place which shall 
be fixed for the delivery, and no more. 

"Fifthly: That, in addition to the above sum, to be paid 
immediately, the United States will also pay, annually, the 
sum of ten thousand dollars, in goods, to such tribes, and to be 
delivered at such places as shall be agreed upon. 

4< * * * * You are to understand, explicitly, that the United 
States cannot relinquish any of the tracts of lands which they 
have already granted, as marked upon the said map. 

" In respect to all that has been said with regard to relin- 
quishment, you will please to understand that no particular 
difficulty is intended to be thrown in the way of the relinquish- 
ment of any lands west of the Great Miami, and northward of 
the Ohio, from the intersection thereof by the Great Miami, 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 329 

except the tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres grant- 
ed to General Clark. * * * In case of a successful treaty, the 
delivery of all prisoners taken from the United Stales must be 
strenuously insisted upon. But it will be left to your judgment, 
whether a particular compensation shall be stipulated, or not, 
to the individual owners of such prisoners ; as it is well known 
that they are not considered as the common property of the 
Indian communities, * * * The Reverend John Heckewelder, 
a Moravian teacher, who resided many years among the Mora- 
vian Indians, of the DelaAvares, will accompany you, in order, 
also, to use his influence towards a peace. He well understands 
the Delaware tongue ; and, although he is unwilling to act as 
a common interpreter, yet you may rely upon his ability to 
correct others, and prevent imposition. 

" You will have delivered to you one hundred sets of silver 
ornaments, which you will present to such influential chiefs as 
you shall judge proper. It will be necessary that you should 
endeavor, if consistently with the public interest, to close the 
treaty on or before the first of August. But, whatever shall be 
the result of the treaty, you will inform Major General Wayne 
thereof, on the Ohio, as expeditiously as possible: and, in order 
that there may be no defect in \he transmission of such infor- 
mation, you will send many copies, by different routes, and 
spare no pains or expense to render the communication per- 
fect. * * * The sum of twenty thousand dollars in specie will 
be delivered to you for the particular purposes of gratuities, to 
such influential persons or chiefs, as may in your judgment be 
necessary. * * * Your route will be hence by the way of 
New York, Albany, Fort Stanwix, Wood creek, Oswego, and 
Niagara: thence Governor Simcoe will furnish you with a 
vessel for the purpose of conveying you to the place of treaty." 

The commissioners left Philadelphia between the 26th and 
30th of April, and, proceeding by different routes, arrived at 
Niagara in the month of May. Colonel Pickering and Mr. 
Randolph, reached Niagara on the 17th of May,* and immedi- 

*General Lincoln having charge of the stores, did not reach Niagara until the 25th of 
May. 

42 



330 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

ately sent a note to the British Lieutenant Governor, Simcoe, 
(who resided at Navy Hall, about a mile from Niagara fort, on 
the opposite side of the river,) to inform him of their arrival. 
They received the following answer: 

" Navy Hall, May 17, 1793. 

" Lieutenant Governor Simcoe presents his compliments to 
Mr. Randolph and Mr. Pickering, and desires the pleasure of 
seeing them at Navy Hall as soon as shall be convenient. The 
Lieutenant Governor had expected the pleasure of their com- 
panies to dinner, but must insist on their taking beds at his 
house, and of partaking of such accommodations with him, as 
this settlement can afford." 

The commissioners of the United States complied with the 
polite request of Governor Simcoe, and took lodgings at Navy 
Hall, where, (awaiting the termination of preliminary councils 
which the Indians were holding at the Rapids of the Maumee,) 
they were hospitably entertained for the space of five or six 
weeks. On the 7th of June, the following notes passed between 
the commissioners and Lieutenant Governor Simcoe : — 

" The commissioners of the United States for making peace 
with the western Indians beg leave to suggest to Governor 
Simcoe: That the very high importance of the negotiation 
committed to their management, makes them desirous of using 
every proper means that may contribute to its success. That 
they have observed with pleasure the disposition manifested by 
the Governor to afford every requisite assistance in the prepar- 
atory arrangements for holding the treaty with the hostile In- 
dians. But, all the facilities thus afforded, and all the expenses 
incurred by the British government on this occasion, will per- 
haps be fruitless, unless some means are used to counteract the 
effect of deep rooted prejudices, and unfounded reports among 
the Indian tribes: for, the acts of a few bad men dwelling 
among them, or having a familiar intercourse with them, by 
cherishing those prejudices, or raising and spreading those re- 
ports, may be sufficient to defeat every attempt to accomplish 
a peace. As an instance of such unfounded reports, the com- 
missioners have noticed the declaration of a Mohawk, from 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 331 

Grand River, that Governor Simcoe advised the Indians to make 
peace, but not to give up any of their lands. The commission- 
ers further observe that if any transactions at former treaties 
were exceptionable, the principles of the present treaty are 
calculated to remove the causes of complaint; for the views of 
government are perfectly fair. And, although it is now impos- 
sible to retrace all the steps then taken, the United States are 
disposed to recede, as far as shall be indispensable, and the 
existing state of things will admit; and, for the lands retained, 
to make ample compensation. The views of the United States 
being thus fair and liberal, the commissioners wish to embrace 
every means of making them so appear to the Indians, against 
any contrary suggestions. Among these means, the commis- 
sioners consider the presence of some gentlemen of the army 
to be of consequence : for, although the Indians naturally look 
up to their superintendents as their patrons, yet, the presence 
of some officers of the army will probably induce them to nego- 
tiate with greater confidence on the terms of peace. Inde- 
pendently of these considerations, the commissioners, for their 
own sakes, request the pleasure of their company. The com- 
missioners, feeling the greatest solicitude to accomplish the 
object of their mission, will be happy to receive from the Gov- 
ernor every information relating to it, which his situation ena- 
bles him to communicate. He must be aware that the sales 
and settlements of the lands over the Ohio, founded on the 
treaties of Forts Mcintosh and Harmar, render it impossible 
now to make that river the boundary. The expression of his 
opinion, on this point in particular, will give them great satis- 
faction." 

The commissioners received the following answer from 
Lieutenant Governor Simcoe : 

" Colonel Simcoe, commanding the King's forces in Upper 
Canada, has the honor, in answer to the paper delivered to 
him this morning by the commissioners of the United States 
for making peace with the Western Indians, to state to those 
gentlemen, that he is duly impressed with the serious impor- 



332 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

tance of the negotiation committed to their charge, and shall 
be happy to contribute by every proper means that may tend 
to its success. He is much obliged to them for the polite man- 
ner in which they have expressed their sense of his readiness 
to afford them such facilities as may have been in his power, to 
assist in the preparatory arrangements for holding the treaty. 
He is perfectly aware that unfounded reports, and deep rooted 
prejudices, have arisen among the Indian tribes: but whether 
from the acts of a few bad men living among them, he cannot 
pretend to say. But, he must observe, upon the instance given 
by the commissioners, of one of " those unfounded reports, that 
a Mohawk from the Grand River should say, that Governor 
Simcoe advised the Indians to make peace, but not to give up 
their lands," it is of that nature that cannot be true ; the In- 
dians, as yet, not having applied for his advice on the subject; 
and it being a point, of all others, on which they are the least 
likely to consult the British officers commanding in Upper 
Canada. Colonel Simcoe considers himself perfectly justified 
in admitting, on the requisition of the commissioners, some offi- 
cers to attend the treaty; and, therefore, in addition to the 
gentlemen appointed to control the delivery of the British 
provisions, &c. he will desire Captain Bunbury, of the fifth 
regiment, and Lieutenant Givens, who has some knowledge of 
one of the Indian languages, to accompany the commissioners. 
Colonel Simcoe can give the commissioners no further inform- 
ation than what is aftbrded by the speeches of the confederate 
nations, of which General Hull has authentic copies. But, as 
it has been, ever since the conquest of Canada, the principle of 
the British Government, to unite the American Indians, that, 
all petty jealousies being extinguished, the real wishes of the 
several tribes may be fully expressed, and in consequence all 
the treaties made with them, may have the most complete rati- 
fication and universal concurrence, so, he feels it proper to 
state to the commissioners, that a jealousy of a contrary con- 
duct in the agents of the United States, appears to him to have 
been deeply impressed upon the minds of the confederacy.^^ 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 333 

The following account of the final attempt to negotiate a 
peace with the northwestern Indians, in 1793, is extracted 
from the journal of the commissioners: 

"June 29th, 1793. — The commissioners and their suite went 
to Fort Erie to embark for Sandusky; but the winds being 
contrary, they returned three or four miles to their lodgings. 

"June 30th. — The wind still contrary; nevertheless the 
commissioners and their suit embarked on board the schooner 
Dunmore, Captain Henry Ford, commander. 

"July 5th. — Still detained by contrary winds at Fort Erie, 
This day arrived in a vessel from the Maumee, Colonel Butler, 
a British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and Captain Brandt, 
with about fifty Indians, being a deputation from the Indian 
nations assembled at the Rapids of the Maumee, to confer with 
the commissioners of the United States, in presence of the Gov- 
ernor of Upper Canada. The deputation being met, gave no- 
tice to the commissioners that they desired to speak with them. 
The commissioners attending, a Shawanese chief, called Cat's 
Eyes, addressed them thus: — 'Brothers: We are sent by the 
nations of Indians assembled at the Rapids of the Maumee to 
meet the commissioners of the United States. We are glad to 
see you here. It is the will of the chiefs of those nations, that 
our father, the Governor of this province, should be present, 
and hear what we have to say to you, and what you have to 
say to us. Brothers : Do not make yourselves uneasy that we 
did not meet you at the time you proposed at Sandusky. The 
reasons thereof will be mentioned at another time." To this 
speech the commissioners replied: — "Brothers: The commis- 
sioners are glad to see you. We will confer with you in pres- 
ence of your father, the Governor of this province, at any time 
and place which shall be convenient to him and you." The 
chiefs having consulted a few minutes by themselves, again 
asked the attendance of the commissioners, and proposed that 
the conference should be at the Governor's, at Niagara; to 
which the commissioners agreed, informing the chiefs that they 
would be at the Governor's to-morrow night. 



334 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

"In Council, at Navy Hall, July 7, 1793. — Present, com- 
missioners of the United States, Colonel Simcoe, Governor of 
Upper Canada, and a considerable number of civil and military 
officers, and the deputation of Indians from the council assem- 
bled at the Rapids of the Maumee. Captain Brandt, with a 
belt and strings of w^ampum, rose and said, "Brothers: We 
have met to-day our brothers the Bostonians and English. We 
are glad to have the meeting, and think it is by the appoint- 
ment of the Great Spirit. Brothers of the United States : We 
told you the other day, at Fort Erie, that, at another time, we 
would inform you why we had not assembled at the time and 
place appointed for holding the treaty with you. We now in- 
form you that it is because there is so much of the appearance 
of war in that quarter. Brothers: We have given the reason 
for our not meeting you ; and now we request an explanation 
of those warlike appearances. Brothers : The people you see 
here are sent to represent the Indian nations who own the lands 
north of the Ohio, as their common property, and who are all of 
one mind — one heart. Brothers: We have come to speak to 
you for two reasons : one, because your warriors being in our 
neighborhood, have prevented our meeting at the appointed 
place : the other, to know if you are properly authorized to run 
and establish a new boundary line between the lands of the Uni- 
ted States, and of the Indian nations. We are still desirous of 
meeting you at the appointed place. Brothers : We wish you 
to deliberate well on this business. We have spoken our senti- 
ments in sincerity, considering ourselves in the presence of the 
Great Spirit, from whom, in time of danger, we expect assist- 
ance." — [A white belt of twelve rows, and thirty strings of 
wampum, in five bunches, nearly all white.] 

The commissioners answered, "Brothers: We have attended 
to what you have said. We will take it into our serious con- 
sideration, and give you an answer to-morrow. We will in- 
form you when we are ready." Captain Brandt replied, " Bro- 
thers: We thank you for what you have said. You say you 
will answer our speech to-morrow. We now cover up the 
council fire." 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 335 

" Niagara, 8th July, 1793. — In Council. Present, as yes- 
terday. The following was the answer of the commissioners 
of the United States to the speech delivered yesterday, by Cap- 
tain Brandt, on behalf of the Western Indians. " Brothers : 
By the appointment of the Great Spirit we are again met to- 
gether. We hope He will assist us on both sides to see and to 
do what is right. It gives us pleasure that this meeting is in 
the presence of our brothers the English. Brothers : Now listen 
to our answer in behalf of the United States. Brothers: You 
have mentioned two objects of your coming to meet us at this 
place. One, to obtain an explanation of the warlike appear- 
ances on the part of the United States on the northwestern 
side of the Ohio : the other, to learn whether we have authority 
to run and establish a new boundary line between your lands 
and ours. Brothers : On the first point, we cannot but express 
our extreme regret, that any reports of warlike appearances, 
on the part of the United States, should have delayed our 
meeting at Sandusky. The nature of the case irresistibly for- 
bids all apprehensions of hostile incursions into the Indian 
country, north of the Ohio, during the treaty at Sandusky. 
Brothers : We are deputed by the Great Chief and the Great 
Council of the United States to treat with you of peace ; and 
is it possible that the same Great Chief and his Great Council 
could order their warriors to make fresh war, while we were 
sitting round the same fire with you, in order to make peace ? 
Is it possible that our Great Chief and his Council could act so 
deceitfully towards us, their commissioners, as well as towards 
you ? Brothers : We think it is not possible ; but we will quit 
arguments, and come to facts. Brothers : We assure you, that 
our Great Chief, General Washington, has strictly forbidden all 
hostilities against you, until the event of the proposed treaty at 
Sandusky shall be known. Here is the proclamation of his 
head warrior, General Wayne, to that effect. But, brothers, 
our Great Chief is so sincere in his professions for peace, and 
so desirous of preventing every thing which could obstruct the 
treaty and prolong the war, that, besides giving the above or- 
ders to his head warrior, he has informed the Governors of the 



336 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

several States, adjoining the Ohio, of the treaty proposed to be 
held at Sandusky; and desired them to unite their power with 
his to prevent any hostile attempts against the Indians, north 
of the Ohio, until the result of the treaty is made known. 
Those Governors have accordingly issued their orders, strictly 
forbidding all such hostilities. The proclamations of the Gov- 
ernors of Pennsylvania and Virginia we have here in our hands. 
Brothers : If, after all these precautions of our Great Chief, any 
hostilities should be committed north of the Ohio, they must 
proceed from a few disorderly people, whom no considerations 
of justice or public good can restrain. But we hope and be- 
lieve that none such will be found. 

" Brothers : After these explanations, we hope you will pos- 
sess your minds in peace, relying on the good faith of the Uni- 
ted States that no injury is to be apprehended by you during 
the treaty. Brothers: We now come to the second point: 
Whether we are properly authorized to run and establish a 
new boundary line between your lands and ours. Brothers : We 
answer explicitly that we have that authority. Where this 
line should run, will be the great subject of discussion at the 
treaty between you and us ; and we sincerely hope and expect 
that it may then be fixed to the satisfaction of both parties. 
Doubtless some concessions must be made on both sides. In 
all disputes and quarrels, both parties usually take some wrong 
steps ; so that it is only by mutual concessions that a true re- 
concilement can be effected. Brothers : We wish you to un- 
understand us clearly on this head ; for we mean that all our 
proceedings should be made with candor. We therefore repeat 
and say explicitly that some concessions will be necessary on 
your part, as well as on ours, in order to establish a just and 
permanent peace. Brothers : After this great point of the 
boundary shall be fully considered, at the treaty, we shall 
know what concessions and stipulations it will be proper to 
make on the part of the United States; and we trust they will 
be such as the world will pronounce reasonable and just. 
Brothers : You have told us that you represent the nations of 
Indians, who own the lands north of the Ohio, and whose 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 337 

chiefs are now assembled at the Rapids of the Maumee. Bro- 
thers : It would be a satisfaction to us to be informed of the 
names of those nations, and of the numbers of the chiefs of 
each so assembled. Brothers : We once more turn our eyes 
to your representation of the warlike appearances in your 
country; to give you complete satisfaction on this point, we 
now assure you that as soon as our councils at this place is 
ended, we will send a messenger on horseback to the Great 
Chief of the United States, to desire him to renew and strongly 
repeat his orders to his head warrior, not only to abstain from 
all hostilities against you ; but to remain quietly at his posts 
until the event of the treaty shall be known." — [A white belt 
of seven rows, and twenty-six strings of wampum, nearly all 
white, annexed.] 

This speech having been interpreted in the Oneida, Shaw- 
anee, and Chippewa tongues, the Shawanee chief, called Cat's 
Eyes, addi'essed the commissioners, thus : " Brothers, the Bos- 
tonians, attend : We have heard your words. Our fathers, the 
English people, have also heard them. We thank God that 
you have been preserved in peace, and that we bring our pipes 
together. The people of all the different nations here salute 
you. They rejoice to hear your words. It gives us great sat- 
isfaction that our fathers, the English, have heard them also. 
We shall, for the present, take up our pipes, and retire to the 
encampments, where we shall deliberately consider your speech 
and return you an answer to-morrow." 

"Niagara, 9th July, 1793. — In Council. Present, as yes- 
terday. Captain Brandt arose, with the belt and strings which 
were yesterday delivered by the commissioners, and, address- 
ing himself to the English and Americans, said, " We are glad 
the Great Spirit has preserved us in peace, to meet together 
this day. Brothers of the United States : Yesterday you made 
an answer to the message delivered by us, from the great coun- 
cil at the Maumee, in the two particulars which we had stated 
to you. Brothers : You may depend on it, we fully understood 
your speech. We shall take with us your belt and white strings, 

and repeat it to the chiefs at the great council at the Maumee. 
43 



338 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

— [Laid down the strings and belt, and took up a white belt.] 
Brothers: We have something further to say, though not much. 
We are small compared with our great chiefs at Maumee. But 
though small, we have something to say. Brothers: We think, 
from your speech, that there is a prospect of our coming to- 
gether. We, who are the nations at the westward are of one 
mind ; and, if we agree with you, as there is a prospect that 
we shall, it will be binding and lasting. Brothers : Our pros- 
pects are the fairer, because all our minds are one. You have 
not before spoken to us unitedly. Formerly, because you did 
not speak to us unitedly, what was done was not binding. 
Now, you have an opportunity of speaking to us together; 
and we now take you by the hand, to lead you to the place 
appointed for the meeting. [ A white belt of seven rows.] 
Brothers: This is all we have to say." 

Afterwards, Captain Brandt, recollecting that he had not 
answered the enquiry of the commissioners, respecting the 
nations and chiefs assembled at the Maumee, rose, and said, 
" Brothers : One thing more we have to say : Yesterday you 
expressed a wish to be informed of the names of the nations, 
and numbers of chiefs assembled at the Maumee ; but, as they 
were daily coming in, we cannot give you exact information 
You will see for yourselves in a few days. When we left it, 
the following nations were there, to wit : Five Nations, Wyan- 
dots, Shawanees, Delawares, Munsees, Miamies, Chippewas, 
Ottawas, Pottawattamies, Mingoes, Cherokees, Nantikokies: 
The principal men of these were there." He presented the 
list on paper. 

The commissioners then replied : " Brothers : Our ears have 
been open to your speech. It is agreeable to us. We are 
ready to accompany you to the place of treaty, where, under 
the direction of the Great Spirit, we hope for a speedy termin- 
ation of the present war, on terms equally interesting and 
agreeable to all parties." 

On the 10th of July, 1793, the commissioners despatched a 
letter to General Knox, Secretary of War. In this letter they 
said, " We think the coming of the deputation from the West- 



f 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 339 

ern Indians, a fortunate event. It must have been their ex- 
treme jealousy of the United States that made them soHcitous 
to speak with us in presence of the Governor; and our answer 
being satisfactory, we beheve it will have a better effect, than 
the same sentiments delivered under any other circumstances. 
Our promise to send a special messenger to the President, to 
desire fresh orders might be sent to General Wayne, not only 
to abstain from hostilities but to remain quietly at his posts, was 
thought a very necessary measure ; and it will be alike neces- 
sary that those orders should be issued and strictly observed. 
In a former letter we intimated our opinion and wishes on this 
point. We now think, and our duty obliges us to declare it, 
that an exact observation of the laws of a truce is essential to 
the success of the treaty. The Indians have information, con- 
firmed by repeated scouts, that General Wayne has cut and 
cleared a road, straight from Fort Washington into the Indian 
country, in a direction that would have missed Fort Jefferson, 
but that, meeting with a large swamp, it was, of necessity, 
turned to that fort, and then continued six miles beyond it: 
that large quantities of provisions are accumulated at the forts, 
far exceeding the wants of the garrisons, and numerous herds 
of horses and cattle, assembled beyond Fort Jefferson, guarded 
by considerable bodies of troops. With these preparations for 
war in their neighborhood, (for it is but three days' journey 
from thence to the Glaize,) they say their minds cannot rest 
easy. The distance here mentioned, is from Captain Brandt's 
information, and is, no doubt, exact. We suppose that twenty 
to twenty-five miles may be deemed a day's journey. The 
manner in which negotiations for peace are conducted by In- 
dians, demands a particular consideration. On such occasions, 
not commissioners, or a few counsellors, but the body of the 
nations assemble. The negotiations will of course be delayed 
or interrupted, if the movements of their enemies call the war- 
riors from the council to watch or check them. The measures 
pursued by General Wayne appear to have produced this 
unhappy effect, and probably strengthened jealousies, before 
almost insurmountable. We know that those measures are 



340 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

viewed by the British as unfair, and unwarrantable ; and we 
cannot suppose that their opinion will be concealed from the 
Indians ; if the latter have not previously entertained the same 
ideas. After this detail, it can hardly be necessary to express 
our opinions on the subject. It is obvious, that, to ensure a 
quiet, uninterrupted treaty, the cattle, horses, and troops, be- 
yond what are proper for the posts themselves, should not be 
advanced from the Ohio : any that are now in advance beyond 
Fort Jefferson, should certainly be immediately withdrawn; 
and we doubt whether that would be satisfactory, if their num- 
bers, in any degree, correspond with the reports among the 
Indians at their council." 

The commissioners left Niagara on the 1 0th of July ; and on 
the 11th they reached Fort Erie, where they were detained 
by head winds until the 14th, when they set sail for the mouth 
of Detroit river. They reached that point on the morning 
of the 21st of July, took lodgings at the residence of Captain 
Matthew Elliott, and despatched the following note to Colonel 
Alexander M'Kee, the British superintendent of Indian Affairs 
at the Rapids of the Maumee river. 

" On Detroit river, 21st July, 1793. 

"Sir: We embrace this opportunity to inform you of our 
arrival at this place, where we shall wait until we have intel- 
ligence that the nations of Indians at the Rapids of the Mau- 
mee are ready to move to Sandusky. We shall be greatly 
obliged by your endeavors to expedite the councils of the In- 
dians, that we may meet them without more delay. You will 
add to our obligations, by sending us the earliest notice when 
we may expect the Indians will arrive at Sandusky, that we 
may be there at the same time. We wrote you on the 30th of 
May, but having received no answer, are apprehensive that 
our letter did not reach you. 

We are, sir, yours, &c. 

BENJAMIN LINCOLN, 

BEVERLEY RANDOLPH, 
TIMOTHY PICKERING." 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 341 

On the 29th of July, Captain Elliott arrived at his residence 
near the mouth of the Detroit river, with a deputation of up- 
wards of twenty Indians, among wiiom was the Delaware chief 
Buck-ong-a-he-las, from the nations assembled at the foot of 
the Maumee Rapids. Captain Elliott delivered to the commis- 
sioners of the United States the following answer from Colonel 
McKee : 

"Foot of the Rapids, 28th July, 1793. 

" Gentlemen : I had the honor to receive your letter of the 
2Ist instant. That which you mentioned to have wrote on 
the 30th of May, has not yet come to hand. As soon as I am 
enabled to inform you at what time the Indians will meet at 
Sandusky, I will not fail to give you the earliest notice ; and, 
as far as it depends on me, shall expedite it most cordially. 

I am, gentlemen, yours, &c. 

ALEXANDER McKEE." 

" In Council, at Captain Elliott's, near the mouth ) 
of Detroit river, July 30th, 1793. S 

" Present, the commissioners of the United States, the depu- 
tation of Indians, the British officers, and inhabitants. The 
deputation addressed the commissioners as follows : a Wyan- 
dot chief, called Sa-wagh-da-wunk (whose name signifies Carry 
one about,) being their speaker : " Brothers : Listen ! We are 
glad to see you here in peace, and thank the Great Spirit that 
has preserved us to meet again. Brothers: We were sent to 
speak to you some time ago, at Niagara. Some chiefs are now 
here, who were then present. Brothers : We did not explain 
ourselves to each other ; and we did not rightly understand 
each other. Brothers : We desired that we might rightly un- 
derstand each other. We have thought it best that what we 
had to say should be put into writing; and here (presenting a 
paper to the commissioners) is the meaning of our hearts." 

This speech was interpreted by Simon Girty. Tiie commis- 
sioners received the paper, and told the Indians that " they 
would well consider the subject of it, and return an answer in 
writing. The contents of the paper were as follows : 



342 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

" To the CofJimissiojiers of the United States. Brothers : The 
deputies we sent to you did not fully explain our meaning ; we 
have therefore sent others, to meet you once more, that you 
may fully understand the great question we have to ask of 
you, and to which we expect an explicit answer in writing. 
Brothers : You are sent here by the United States, in order to 
make peace with us, the confederate Indians. Brothers : You 
know very well that the boundary line, which was run between 
the white people and us, at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, was 
the river Ohio. Brothers : If you seriously design to make a 
firm and lasting peace, you will immediately remove all your 
people from our side of that river. Brothers : We therefore 
ask you, are you fully authorized by the United States to con- 
tinue, and firmly fix on the Ohio river, as the boundary line 
between your people and ours? Done in general council at 
the foot of tha Maumee Rapids, 27th July, 1793, in behalf of 
ourselves, and the whole confederacy, and agreed to in a full 
council. 

Wyandots — Bear. Pottawattamies — Fish. 

Delawares — Turtle. Ottawas. 

Shawanees — Snake. Connoys — Turkey. 

MlAMIES. ChIPPEWAS. 

Mingoes — Snipe. Munsees." 

In the afternoon of the succeeding day, the commissioners 
of the United States delivered to the deputation of Indians, the 
following answer, in writing : 

" Speech of the Commissioners of the United States to the 
Deputies of the Confederated Indian nations, assembled at the 
Rapids of the Maumee river : 

" Brothers : You yesterday addressed us, mentioning a for- 
mer deputation who met us at Niagara. At that meeting, you 
said, we did not come to a right understanding; that your de- 
puties did not fully explain your meaning to us, nor we ours 
to them : that you desired we might rightly understand each 
other, and therefore thought it best that what you had to say 
should be put into writing. Then, handing us a paper, you 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 343 

said, * here is the meaning of our hearts.' Brothers: That pa- 
per is directed to the commissioners of the United States, and 
speaks to them these words, viz : [Here is repeated the written 
address of the Indians.] 

" Brothers, the deputies present : We have now repeated the 
words contained in the paper which you dehvered to us ; and 
those words are interpreted to you. We presume the inter- 
pretation agrees with your idea of the contents of the paper. 
It is expressed to be signed by the Wyandots, Delawares, Mia- 
mies, Shawanees, Mingoes, Pottawattamies, Ottawas, Connoys, 
Chippewas, and Munsees, in behalf of themselves and the whole 
confederacy, and agreed to in full council. 

" Brothers : We are a little surprised at the suggestion, that, 
in the conference at Niagara, we did not come to a right un- 
derstanding, and that your deputies did not fully explain your 
meaning. Those deputies appeared to be men of good under- 
standing, and when we saw them they were perfectly sober : 
in short, we never saw men in public council more attentive, 
or behave with more propriety. We could not, therefore, sup- 
pose they could mistake your meaning or ours. Certainly we 
were sufficiently explicit, for, in plain terms we declared, ' that 
in order to establish a just and permanent peace, some conces- 
sions would be necessary, on your part as well as on ours.' 
These words, brothers, are a part of our speech to your depu- 
ties; and that speech, they assured us they fully understood. 
What those concessions should be, on both sides, and where 
the boundary line should be fixed, were proper subjects of dis- 
cussion, at the treaty, when we should speak face to face. 
This, we are certain would be the best way to remove all diffi- 
culties. But your nations have adopted another mode, which, 
by keeping us at a distance, prevents our knowing each other, 
and keeps alive those jealousies which are the greatest obsta- 
cles to a peace. We are, therefore, desirous of meeting your 
nations in full council, without more delay. We have already 
waited in this province sixty days beyond the time appointed 
for opening the treaty. 



344 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

** Brothers : We have now expressed our opinion of the pro- 
per mode of settling the differences between you and the Uni- 
ted States ; but, as your nations have desired answers to cer- 
tain questions, previous to our meeting, and we are disposed 
to act with frankness and sincerity, we will give you an ex- 
plicit answer to the great question you have now proposed to 
us. But, before we do this, we think it necessary to look back 
to some former transactions, and we desire you patiently to 
hear us. 

"Brothers: We do know very well, that, at the treaty of 
Fort Stanwix, twenty-Jive years ago, the river Ohio was agreed 
on, as the boundary line between you and the white people of 
the British colonies ; and, we all know, that, about seven years 
after that boundary was fixed, a quarrel broke out between 
your father, the King of Great Britain, and the people of those 
colonies, which are now the United States. This quarrel was 
ended by the treaty of peace, made with the King, about ten 
years ago, by which the Great Lakes, and the waters which 
unite them, were, by him, declared to be the boundaries of the 
United States. 

"Brothers: Peace having been thus made, between the King 
of Great Britain and the United States, it remained to make 
peace between them and the Indian nations who had taken 
part with the King : for this purpose, commissioners were ap- 
pointed, who sent messages to all those Indian nations, inviting 
them to come and make peace. The first treaty was held about 
nine years ago, at Fort Stanwix, with the Six Nations, which 
has stood firm and unviolated to this day. The next treaty 
was made about ninety days after, at Fort Mcintosh, with the 
half king of the Wyandots, Captain Pipe, and other chiefs, in 
behalf of the Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa, and Chippewa 
nations. Afterwards treaties were made with divers Indian 
nations south of the Ohio river; and the next treaty was made 
with Ka-kia-pilathy, here present, and other Shawanee chiefs, 
in behalf of the Shawanee nation, at the mouth of the Great 
Miami, which runs into the Ohio. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 345 

"Brothers: The commissioners who conducted the treaties 
in behalf of the United States, sent the papers containing them 
to the Great Council of the States, who, supposing them satis- 
factory to the nations treated with, proceeded to dispose of 
large tracts of land thereby ceded, and a great number of peo- 
ple removed from other parts of the United States, and settled 
upon them: also many families of your ancient fathers, the 
French, came over the great waters, and settled upon a part 
of the same lands.* 

" Brothers : After some time, it appeared that a number of 
people in your nations were dissatisfied with the treaties of 
Fort Mcintosh and Miami : therefore, the Great Council of the 
United States appointed Governor St. Clair their commissioner, 
with full powers, for the purpose of removing all causes of con- 
troversy, regulating trade, and settling boundaries, between 
the Indian nations in the northern department and the United 
States, He accordingly sent messages, inviting all the nations 
concerned to meet him at a council fire which he kindled at 
the falls of the Muskingum. While he was waiting for them, 
some mi:>chief happened at that place, and the fire was put 
out: so he kindled a council fire at Fort Harmar, where near 
six hundred Indians of different nations attended. The Six 
Nations then renewed and confirmed the treaty of Fort Stan- 
wix; and the Wyandots and Delawares renewed and confirm- 
ed the treaty of Fort Mcintosh: some Ottawas, Chippewas, 
Pottawattamies, and Sacs, were also parties to the treaty of 
Fort Harmar. 

" Brothers : All these treaties we have here with us. We 
have also the speeches of many chiefs who attended them, and 
who voluntarily declared their satisfaction with the terms of 
the treaties. 

" Brothers : After making all these treaties, and after hear- 
ing the chiefs express freely their satisfaction with them, the 
United States expected to enjoy peace, and quietly to hold the 
lands ceded by them. Accordingly large tracts have been sold 
and settled, as before mentioned. And, now, brothers, we an- 

* The French settlement at Gallipolis. 

44 



346 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

swer explicitly, that, for the reasons here stated to you, it is 
impossible to make the river Ohio the boundary between your 
people and the people of the United States. 

" Brothers : You are men of understanding, and if you con- 
sider the customs of white people, the great expenses which 
attend their settling in a new country, the nature of their im- 
provements, in building houses and barns, and clearing and 
fencing their lands, how valuable the lands are thus rendered, 
and thence how dear they are to them, you will see that it is 
now impracticable to remove our people from the northern 
side of the Ohio. Your brothers, the English, know the nature 
of white people, and they know, that, under the circumstances 
which we have mentioned, the United States cannot make the 
Ohio the boundary between you and us. 

"Brothers: You seem to consider all the lands in dispute 
on your side of the Ohio, as claimed by the United States; but 
suffer us to remind you that a large tract was sold by the 
Wyandot and Delaware nations to the state of Pennsylvania. 
This tract lies east of a line drawn from the mouth of Beaver 
creek, at the Ohio, due north to Lake Erie. This line is the 
western boundary of Pennsylvania, as claimed under the char- 
ter given by the King of England to your ancient friend Wil- 
liam Penn : of this sale made by the Wyandot and Delaware 
nations, to the state of Pennsylvania, we have never heard 
any complaint. 

" Brothers : We are, on this occasion, obliged to make a long 
speech. We again desire you to hear us patiently. The busi- 
ness is of the highest importance, and a great many words are 
necessary fully to explain it : for we desire you may perfectly 
understand us ; and there is no danger of your forgetting what 
we say, because we will give you our speech in writing. 

"Brothers: We have exphcitly declared to you, that we 
cannot now make the Ohio river the boundary between us. 
This agrees with our speech to your deputies at Niagara, 'that 
in order to establish a just and permanent peace, some conces- 
sions would be necessary on your part, as well as on ours.' 

"Brothers: The concessions which we think necessary on 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 347 

your part are, that you yield up, and finally relinquish to the 
United States, some of the lands on your side of the river 
Ohio. The United States wish to have confirmed all the lands 
ceded to them by the treaty of Fort Harmar ; and, also, a small 
tract of land at the Rapids of the Ohio, claimed by General 
Clark, for the use of himself and warriors : and, in considera- 
tion thereof, the United States would give such a large sum, in 
money or goods, as was never given at one time, for any quan- 
tity of Indian lands, since the lohite people first set their foot 
on this island. And because those lands did, every year, fur- 
nish you with skins and furs, with which you bought clothing 
and other necessaries, the United States will now furnish the 
like constant supplies : and, therefore, besides the great sum to 
be delivered at once, they will every year, deliver you a large 
quantity of such goods as are best suited to the wants of your- 
selves, your women, and children. 

" Brothers : If all the lands, before mentioned, cannot be de- 
livered up to the United States, then we shall desire to treat 
and agree with you on a new boundary line ; and for the quan- 
tity of land you relinquish to us within that new boundary line 
we shall stipulate a generous compensation, not only for a large 
sum, to be paid at once, but for a yearly rent, for the benefit of 
yourselves and your children forever. 

" Brothers : Here you see one concession, which we are wil- 
ling to make on the part of the United States. Now, listen to 
another, of a claim which probably has more disturbed your 
minds than any other whatever. 

" Brothers : The commissioners of the United States have 
formerly set up a claim to your whole country, southward of the 
Great Lakes, as the property of the United States; grounding 
this claim on the treaty of peace with your father, the King of 
Great Britain, who declared, as we have before mentioned, the 
middle of those lakes, and the waters which unite them, to be 
the boundaries of the United States. 

" Brothers : We are determined that our whole conduct shall 
be marked with openness and sincerity. We therefore frankly 
tell you, that we think those commissioners put an erroneous 



348 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

construction on that part of our treaty with the King. As he 
had not purchased the country of you, of course he could not 
give it away. He only relinquished to the United States his 
claim to it. That claim was founded on a right acquired by 
treaty, with other white nations, to exclude them from pur- 
chasing, or settling, in any part of your country; and it is this 
right which the King granted to the United States. Before 
that grant, the King alone had a right to purchase of the In- 
dian nations, any of the lands between the Great Lakes, the 
Ohio, and the Mississippi, excepting the part within the char- 
ter boundary of Pennsylvania ; and the King, by the treaty of 
peace, having granted this right to the United States, they 
alone have now the right of purchasing: so that, now, neither 
the King, nor any of his people, have any right to interfere 
wiih the United States, in respect to any part of those lands. 
All your brothers, the English, know this to be true ; and it 
agrees with the declarations of Lord Dorchester, to your dep- 
uties, two years ago at Quebec. 

" Brothers : We now concede this great point. We, by the 
express authority of the President of the United States, ac- 
knowledge the property, or right of soil, of the great country 
above described, to be in the Indian nations, so long as they 
desire to occupy the same. We only claim particular tracts 
in it, as before mentioned, and the general right granted by 
the King, as above stated, and which is well known to the 
English and Americans, and called the right of pre-emption, 
or the right of purchasing of the Indian nations disposed to 
sell their lands, to the exclusion of all other white people 
whatever. 

" Brothers : We have now opened our hearts to you. We 
are happy in having an opportunity of doing it ; though we 
should have been more happy to have done it in the full coun- 
cil of your nations. We expect soon to have this satisfaction, 
and that your next deputation will take us by the hand, and 
lead us to the treaty. When we meet, and converse with each 
other freely, we may easily remove any difficulties which may 
come in the way of peace. ^ 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 349 

"At Captain Elliott's, at the mouth of Detroit river, 3Ist 
July, 1793. 

BENJAMIN LINCOLN, ^ Commissioners 
BEVERLEY RANDOLPH, y of the 
TIMOTHY PICKERING, J United States." 

After the foregoing speech had been interpreted, the com- 
missioners gave it, in writing, to the Indian deputation, with a 
white belt crossed with thirteen stripes of black wampum. The 
deputation then said, that, as it was too late to make any reply 
on that day, they would speak to the commissioners on the 
next morning. 

" In Council, August 1st, 1793. Present, as yesterday. The 
Wyandot chief Sa-wagh-da-wunk, [Carry-one-about] arose and 
spoke. Simon Girty interpreted. " Brothers : We are all bro- 
thers you see here now. Brothers: It is now thi*ee years since 
you desired to speak with us. We heard you yesterday, and 
understood you well — perfectly well. We have a few words 
to say to you. Brothers : You mentioned the treaties of Fort 
Stanwix, Beaver creek, * and other places. Those treaties 
were not complete. There were but a few chiefs who treated 
with you. You have not bought our lands. They belong to 
us. You tried to draw off some of us. Brothers : Many years 
ago, we all know that the Ohio was made the boundary. It 
was settled by Sir William Johnston. This side is ours. We 
look upon it as our property. Brothers : You mentioned Gen- 
eral Washington. He and you know you have your houses 
and your people on our land. You say you cannot move them 
off: and we cannot give up our land. Brothers : We are sorry 
we cannot come to an agreement. The line has been fixed 
long ago. Brothers: We don't say much. There has been 
much mischief on both sides. We came here upon peace, and 
thought you did the same. We shall talk to our head warriors. 
You may return whence you came, and tell Washington." 

The council here breaking up. Captain Elliott went to the 
Shawanee chief Ka-kia-pilathy, and told him that the last part 

* Fort Mcintosh. 



350 HISTORICAL NOTES. ♦ 

of the speech was wrong. That chief came back, and said it 
was wrong. Girty said that he had interpreted truly what the 
Wyandot chief spoke. An explanation took place ; and Girty 
added, as follows : " Brothers : Instead of going home, we wish 
you to remain here for an answer from us. We have your 
speech in our breasts, and shall consult our head warriors." 
The deputation of Indians were then told that the commission- 
ers would wait to hear again from the council at the Rapids of 
the Maumee. 

On the 16th of August, 1793, Messrs. Lincoln, Randolph, 
and Pickering, received the following answer (in writing,) to 
their speech of the 31st of July. 

" To the Commissioners of the United States. Brothers: We 
have received your speech, dated the 31st of last month, and 
it has been interpreted to all the different nations. We have 
been long in sending you an answer, because of the great im- 
portance of the subject. But, we now answer it fully; having 
given it all the consideration in our power. 

" Brothers : You tell us that, after you had made peace with 
the King, our father, about ten years ago, ' it remained to make 
peace between the United States and the Indian nations who 
had taken part with the King. For this purpose, commission- 
ers were appointed, who sent messages to all those Indian na- 
tions, inviting them to come and make peace;' and, after reci- 
ting the periods at which you say treaties were held, at Fort 
Stanwix, Fort Mcintosh and Miami, all which treaties, accord- 
ing to your own acknowledgment, were for the sole purpose 
of making peace, you then say, ' Brothers, the commissioners 
who conducted these treaties, in behalf of the United States, 
sent the papers containing them to the general council of the 
States, who supposing them satisfactory to the nations treated 
with, proceeded to dispose of the lands thereby ceded.' 

"Brothers: This is telling us plainly, what we always un- 
derstood to be the case, and it agrees with the declarations of 
those few who attended those treaties, viz: That they went to 
meet your commissioners to make peace ; hut, through fear, were 
obliged to sign any paper that was laid before them ; and it has 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 351 

since appeared that deeds of cession were signed by them^ in- 
stead of treaties of peace. 

" Brothers : You then say, ♦ After some time it appears that 
a number of people in your nations were dissatisfied with the 
treaties of Fort Mcintosh and Miami, therefore the council of 
the United States appointed Governor St. Clair their commis- 
sioner, with full power, for the purpose of removing all causes 
of controversy, relating to trade, and settling boundaries, be- 
tween the Indian nations in the northern department, and the 
United States. He accordingly sent messages, inviting all the 
nations concerned to meet him at a council fire he kindled at 
the falls of the Muskingum. While he was waiting for them, 
some mischief happened at that place, and the fire was put out : 
so he kindled a council fire at Fort Harmar, where near six 
hundred Indians of different nations, attended. The Six Na- 
tions then renewed and confirmed the treaty of Fort Stanwix ; 
and the Wyandots and Delawares renewed and confirmed the 
treaty of Fort Mcintosh: some Ottawas, Chippewas, Potta- 
wattamies, and Sacs, were also parties to the treaty of Fort 
Harmar.' Now, brothers, these are your words; and it is 
necessary for us to make a short reply to them. 

" Brothers : A general council of all the Indian confederacy 
was held, as you well know, in the fall of the year 1788, at 
this place ; and that general council was invited by your com- 
missioner Governor St. Clair, to meet him for the purpose of 
holding a treaty, with regard to the lands mentioned by you 
to have been ceded by the treaties of Fort Stanwix and Fort 
Mcintosh. 

"Brothers: We are in possession of the speeches and letters 
which passed on that occasion, between those deputed by the 
confederate Indians, and Governor St. Clair, the commissioner 
of the United States. These papers prove that your said com- 
missioner, in the beginning of the year 1789, after having been 
informed by the general council, of the preceding fall, that no 
bargain or sale of any part of these Indian lands would be con- 
sidered as valid or binding, unless agreed to by a general coun- 
cil, nevertheless persisted in collecting together a few chiefs of 



352 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

two or three nations only, and with them held a treaty for the 
cession of an immense country, in which they were no more 
interested, than as a branch of the general confederacy, and 
who were in no manner authorized to make any grant or con- 
cession whatever. 

" Brothers : How then was it possible for you to expect to 
enjoy peace, and quietly to hold these lands, when your com- 
missioner was informed, long before he held the treaty of Fort 
Harmar, that the consent of a general council was absolutely 
necessary to convey any part of these lands to the United 
States? The part of these lands which the United States now 
wish us to relinquish, and which you say are settled, have been 
sold by the United States since that time. 

" Brothers : You say, ' the United States wish to have con- 
firmed all the lands ceded to them by the treaty of Fort Har- 
mar, and also a small tract at the Rapids of the Ohio, claimed 
by General Clark, for the use of himself and his warriors. And, 
in consideration thereof, the United States would give such a 
large sum of money or goods, as was never given, at any one 
time, for any quantity of Indian lands, since the white people 
first set their feet on this island. And, because these lands did 
every year furnish you with skins and furs, with which you 
bought clothing, and other necessaries, the United States will 
now furnish the like constant supplies. And, therefore, besides 
the great sum to be delivered at once, they will every year 
deliver you a large quantity of such goods as are best fitted to 
the wants of yourselves, your women, and children.' 

" Brothers : Money, to us, is of no value ; and to most of us 
unknown : and, as no consideration whatever can induce us to 
sell the lands on which we get sustenance for our women and 
children, we hope we may be allowed to point out a mode by which 
your settlers may be easily removed, and peace thereby obtained. 

" Brothers : We know that these settlers are poor, or they 
would never have ventured to live in a country which has been 
in continual trouble ever since they crossed the Ohio. Divide, 
therefore, this large sum of money, which you have offered to us, 
among these people. Give to each, also, a proportion of what 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 353 

you say you would give to us, annually, over and above this 
very large sum of money ; and, we are persuaded, they would 
most readily accept of it, in lieu of the lands you sold them. 
If you add, also, the great sums you must expend in raising 
and paying armies, with a view to force us to yield you our 
country, you will certainly have more than sufficient for the 
purposes of re-paying these settlers for all their labor and their 
improvements. 

"Brothers: You have talked to us about concessions. It 
appears strange that you should expect any from us, who hav^e 
only been defending our just rights against your invasions. 
We want peace. Restore to us our country, and we shall be 
enemies no longer. 

" Brothers : You make one concession to us by offering us 
your money; and another by having agreed to do us justice, 
after having long, and injuriously withheld it: we mean in the 
acknowledgment you have now made, that the King of Eng- 
land never did, nor ever had a right to give you our country, 
by the treaty of peace. And you want to make this act of 
common justice a great part of your concessions; and seem to 
expect that, because you have at last acknowledged our inde- 
pendence, we should, for such a favoi', surrender to you our 
country. 

"Brothers: You have talked, also, a great deal about pre- 
emption, and your exclusive right to purchase Indian lands, as 
ceded to you by the King, at the treaty of peace. 

" Brothers : We never made any agreement with the King, 
nor with any other nation, that we would give to either the 
exclusive right of purchasing our lands: and we declare to you 
that we consider ourselves free to make any bargain or cession 
of lands, whenever and to whomsoever we please. If the white 
people, as you say, made a treaty that none of them but the 
King should purchase of us, and that he has given that right to 
the United States, it is an aftair which concerns you and him, 
and not us. We have never parted with such a power. 

"Brothers: At our general council held at the Glaize last 

fall, we agreed to meet commissioners from the United States, 
45 



354 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

for the purpose of restoring peace, provided they consented to 
acknowledge and confirm our boundary line to be the Ohio: 
and we determined not to meet you, until you gave us satis- 
faction on that point. That is the reason we have never met. 
We desire you to consider, brothers, that our only demand is 
the peaceable possession of a small part of our once great coun- 
try. Look back, and review the lands from whence we have 
been driven to this spot. We can retreat no farther; because 
the country behind hardly affords food for its present inhabi- 
tants; and we have, therefore, resolved to leave our bones in 
this small space to which we are now confined. 

" Brothers : We shall be persuaded that you mean to do us 
justice, if you agree that the Ohio shall remain the boundary 
line between us. If you will not consent thereto, our meeting 
will be altogether unnecessary. This is the great point which 
we hoped would have been explained before you left your 
homes, as our message, last fall, was principally directed to- 
obtain that information. 

" Done in general council, at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, 
the 13th day of August, 1793. 

NATIONS. 

Wyandots, Miajiies, Mohicans, 

Seven Nations, of Canada, Ottawas, Connoys, 

Pottawattamies, Messasagoes, Delawares, 

Senegas, of the Glaize, Chippewas, Nantakokies, 

Shawanees, Munsees, Creeks, 

Cherokees." 

The commissioners of the United States immediately sent 
the following brief answer to the confederate Indians at the 
Rapids of the Maumee : 

" To the Chiefs and Warriors of the Indian Nations, assem- 
bled at the foot of the Maumee Rapids : — Brothers : We have 
just received your answer, dated the 13th instant, to our speech 
of the 31st of last month, which we delivered to your deputies 
at this place. You say it was interpreted to all your nations ; 
and we presume it was fully understood. We therein expli- 
citly declared to you, that it icas now impossible to make the 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 355 

river Ohio the boundary between your lands and the lands of 
the United States. Your answer amounts to a declaration, 
that you will agree to no other boundary than the Ohio. The 
negotiation is therefore at an end. We sincerely regret that 
peace is not the result; but, knowing the upright and liberal 
views of the United States, which, as far as you gave us an 
opportunity, we have explained to you, we trust that impartial 
judges will not attribute the continuance of the war to them. 

"Done at Captain Elliott's, at the mouth of Detroit river, 
the I6th day of August, 1793. 

BENJAMIN LINCOLN, 1 Commissioners 
BEVERLEY RANDOLPH, \ of the 
TIMOTHY PICKERING, J United States." 
On the 17th of August, the commissioners left the mouth of 
the Detroit river. They arrived at Fort Erie on the 23d, and 
immediately despatched the following letter to Major General 
Wayne, at Fort Washington: 

" Fort Erie, 23d August, 1793. 

"Sir: We are on our return home from the mouth of De- 
troit river, where we lay four weeks waiting for the Indians to 
close their private councils at the Rapids of the Maumee, that 
we might all remove to Sandusky and open the treaty. But, 
after sending repeated deputations to us, to obtain answers to 
particular questions, they finally determined not to treat at all. 
This final answer was received on the 16th instant; when we 
immediately began to embark to recross Lake Erie. Although 
we did not etfect a peace, yet we hope that good may here- 
after arise from the mission. The tranquillity of the country 
northwest of the Ohio, during the (supposed) continuance of 
the treaty, evinced your care of our safety ; and we could not 
leave this quarter without returning you our unfeigned thanks. 
We are, sir, yours, &c. 

BENJAMIN LINCOLN, 
BEVERLEY RANDOLPH, 
TIMOTHY PICKERING." 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Owing to various causes, which have been sufficiently ex- 
plained in the preceding chapters, the overtures of peace which 
were made by the government of the United States to the 
northwestern Indians were rejected by those tribes. On the 
5th of October, 1793, Major General Wayne addressed to the 
Secretary of War a letter from which the following is an ex- 
tract : 

" Head Quarters, Hobson's Choice, ) 

Near Fort Washington, 5th October, 1793. ) 

" Agreeably to the authority vested in me by your letter of 
the 17th of May, 1793, I have used every means in my power 
to bring forward the mounted volunteers from Kentucky, as 
you will observe by the enclosed correspondence wdth His Ex- 
cellency Governor Shelby, and Major General Scott, upon this 
interesting occasion. I have even adopted their own proposi- 
tion by ordering a draught of the miUtia, which I consider as 
the dernier resort, and from which I must acknowledge that I 
have but little hopes of success ! Add to this, that we have a 
considerable number of officers and men sick and debilitated, 
from fevers, and other disorders incident to all armies. But, 
this is not all : we have recently been visited by a malady call- 
ed the influenza, which has pervaded the whole line in a most 
alarming and rapid degree. Fortunately this complaint has 
not been fatal except in a few instances ; and I have now the 
pleasure of informing you that we are generally recovered, or 
in a fair way ; but our effisctive force will be much reduced. 
* * * After leaving the necessary garrisons at the several 
posts, (which will generally be composed of the sick and inva- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 357 

lids,) 1 shall not be able to advance beyond Fort Jetlerson with 
more than twenty-six hundred regular effectives, officers inclu- 
ded. What auxiliary force we shall have is yet to be deter- 
mined: at present their numbers are only thirty-six guides and 
spies, and three hundred and sixty mounted volunteers. This 
is not a pleasant picture; but something must be done immedi- 
ately, to save the frontiers from impending savage fury. 

'* I will, therefore, advance to-morrow, with the force I have 
in order to gain a strong position about six miles in front of 
Fort Jefferson, so as to keep the enemy in check (by exciting 
a jealousy and apprehension for the safety of their women and 
children,) until some favorable circumstance or opportunity 
may present to strike with effect. The present apparent tran- 
quillity on the frontiers, and at the head of the line, is a con- 
vincing proof to me, that the enemy are collected or collecting 
in force, to oppose the Legion, either on its march, or in some 
unfavorable position for the cavalry to act in. Disappoint 
them in this favorite plan or manoeuvre, they may probably be 
tempted to attack our lines. In this case I trust they will not 
have much reason to triumph from the encounter. They can- 
not continue long embodied for want of provision ; and, at their 
breaking up, they will most certainly make some desperate 
effort upon some quarter or other. Should the mounted volun- 
teers [from Kentucky] advance in force, we might yet compel 
those haughty savages to sue for peace before the next opening 
of the leaves. * * * Knowing the critical situation of our 
infant nation, and feeling for the honor and reputation of gov- 
ernment, (which I will support with my latest breath,) you 
may rest assured that I will not commit the Legion unneces- 
sarily : and unless more powerfully supported than I at present 
have reason to expect, I will content myself by taking a strong 
position advanced of Fort Jefferson, and, by exerting every 
power, endeavor to protect the frontiers, and to secure the 
posts and army during the winter, or until I am honored with 
your further orders." 

In a letter from Major General Wayne to the Secretary of 
War, dated " Camp, south-west branch of the [Great] Miami, 



358 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

six miles advanced of Fort Jefferson, October '23d, 1793," the 
writer said, " I have the honor to inform you, that the Legion 
took up its line of march from Hobson's Choice, on the 7th 
instant, and arrived at this place in perfect order, and without 
a single accident, at ten o'clock in the morning of the 13th, 
when I found myself arrested for want of provision. Notwith- 
standing this defect, I do not despair of supporting the troops 
in our present position, or rather at a place called Still Water, 
at an intermediate distance betvi^een the field of [St. Clair's] 
battle and Fort Jefferson. * * * The safety of the western 
frontiers, the reputation of the Legion, the dignity and interest 
of the nation, all forbid a retrograde manceuvre, or giving up 
one inch of ground we now possess, until the enemy are com- 
pelled to sue for peace. The greatest difficulty which at pre- 
sent presents, is that of furnishing a sufficient escort to secure 
our convoys of provisions and other supplies from insult and 
disaster; and, at the same time, to retain a sufficient force in 
camp to sustain and repel the attacks of the enemy, who ap- 
pear to be desperate and determined. We have recently ex- 
perienced a little check to our convoys, which may probably 
be exaggerated into something serious by the tongue of fame, 
before this reaches you. The following is, however, the fact, 
viz: Lieutenant Lowry of the 2d sub-legion and Ensign Boyd 
of the 1st, with a command consisting of ninety non-commis- 
sioned officers and privates, having in charge twenty wagons, 
belonging to the Quartermaster General's department, loaded 
with grain, and one of the Contractor's [wagons] loaded with 
stores, were attacked early in the morning of the 17th instant, 
about seven miles advanced of Fort St. Clair, by a party of 
Indians. Those gallant young gentlemen (who promised at a 
future day to be ornaments to their profession,) together with 
thirteen non-commissioned officers and privates, bravely fell, 
after an obstinate resistance against superior numbers, being 
abandoned by the greater part of the escort upon the first dis- 
charge. The savages killed, or carried off, about seventy hor- 
ses, leaving the wagons and stores standing in the road, which 
have all been brought to this camp without any other loss or 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 359 

damage except some trifling articles. One company of light 
infantry, and one troop of dragoons have been detached this 
morning to reinforce four other companies of infantry, com- 
manded by Colonel Hamtramck, as an escort to the Quarter- 
master General's and Contractor's wagons and pack-horses. 
I have this moment received the return of the mounted volun- 
teers * [from Kentucky] under General Scott, recently arrived 
and encamped in the vicinity of Fort Jefferson. I shall imme- 
diately order a strong detachment of those volunteers as a fur- 
ther reinforcement to Colonel Hamtramck. I fear the season 
is too far advanced to derive that essential service, which, oth- 
erwise, might be expected from them. Whether they can act 
with effect or not is yet eventual. It is reported that the In- 
dians at Auglaize have sent their women and children into 
some secret recess or recesses, from their towns ; and that the 
whole of the warriors are collected or collecting in force. The 
savages, however, cannot continue long embodied, for want of 
provisions. On the contrary, we have, by great exertions, 
secured in this camp seventy thousand rations, I expect one 
hundred and twenty thousand in addition by the return of the 
present convoy, unless they meet with a disaster — a thing 
that can scarcely happen should my orders be duly executed, 
which I have no cause to doubt, from the character, vigilance, 
and experience of the commanding officer, [Colonel Ham- 
tramck,] A great number of men, as well as officers, have 
been left sick and debilitated at the respective garrisons,! from 
a malady called the influenza. Among others, General Wilkin- 
son has been dangerously ill. He is now at Fort Jefferson, 
and on the recovery. I hope he will soon be sufficiently re- 
stored to take his command in the Legion." 

The approach of winter, which was regarded as an unfavor- 
able season for carrying on active hostilities against the Indians, 
induced General Wayne to dismiss the Kentucky militia, and 
to place the regular troops in winter quarters. On a tributary 
of the southwest branch of the Big Miami river he erected 

* About one thousand men. 

t Forts Washington, Hamilton, St. Clair, and Jefferson. 



360 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Fort Greenville,* where he established his head-quarters. On 
the 23d of December, 1793, he ordered eight companies of 
infantry, and a detachment of artillery, under the command of 
Major Henry Burbeck, to take possession of the ground on 
which St. Clair was defeated in 1791, and to erect a fortifica- 
tion at that place. This order was executed, and the new post 
was called Fort Recovery.f When this fort was built and 
garrisoned. General Wayne received, from some of the hostile 
tribes, a message in which they expressed a desire to make 
peace with the United States. The terms, however, on which 
Wayne proposed to enter into pacific negotiations, were either 
evaded or rejected by the Indians ; many of whom were led to 
believe, early in 1794, that Great Britain would, in the course 
of that year, assist them in then' attempt to force the American 
settlers to retire from the territory lying on the northvs^estern 
side of the Ohio. J 

It is necessary here to refer to the unsettled and critical 
state of the relations which existed at this period between the 
United States of America and the governments of Great Brit- 
ain, France, and Spain. The French nation, which, in 1778, 
under the government of Louis XVI. had established treaties 
of commerce and alliance with the United States, was, during 
the year 1793, convulsed to its centre by the progress of an 
extraordinary and sanguinary revolution, terribly marked by 
its anarchy, massacres, cruelty, and impiety. The revolution- 
ists formed a new constitution, abolished royalty, beheaded 
Louis XVI. and his wife, suppressed religious communities, 
prohibited the wearing of ecclesiastical costumes, abolished 

% This fort stood in the vicinity of the site on which the town of Greenville, in Darke 
County, Ohio, now stands. 

t The site on whicli Fort Recovery was built lies on the bank of one of the head branch- 
es of the river Wabash, in the southwestern part of Mercer County, Ohio, about one mile 
and a quarter east of the eastern boundary of Indiana. 

J On the 10th of February, 1794, Lord Dorchester, the Governor General of Canada, 
told a number of Indian chiefs, wha were assembled in council at Quebec, "that he should 
not be surprised if Great Britain and the United States were at war in the course of the 
year;" and, in April, 1794, three companies of British troops moved from Detroit to the 
foot of the Rapids of the Maumee, where, acting under the direction of Lieutenant Gover- 
nor Simcoe, they built and garrisoned a fort on the left hank of the river. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 361 

» 

Sundays, instituted what was called the worship of Reason, 
armed near a million of soldiers,* and engaged in a war in 
which they were opposed by the arms of England, Holland, 
Spain, Portugal, Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, Piedmont, the two 
Sicilies, and the Roman States. 

At this time the govei'nment of the United States was press- 
ed with business "equally delicate, difficult and disagreeable."! 
On the 8th of April, 1793, Mr. Genet, Minister Plenipotentiary 
of the French Republic, arrived at Charleston, in South Caro- 
lina, where he was received with enthusiasm by the Governor 
of the state and the citizens, who remembered with sentiments 
of gratitude the essential aid which the people of the United 
States had received from France during the latter years of the 
American Revolutionary war. The secret instructions which 
were given by the Executive Council of France to Mr. Genet, 
on his departure for the United States, contained the following 
passage : " As it is possible that the false representations which 
have been made to Congress of the situation of our internal 
affairs — of the state of our maritime force — of our finances, 
and especially of the storms with which we are threatened, 
may make her ministers, in the negotiations which citizen Ge- 
net is instructed to open, adopt a timid and wavering conduct, 
the Executive Council charges him, in the expectation that the 
American Government will finally determine to make a common 
cause with us, to take such steps as will appear to him exigen- 
cies may require, to serve the cause of liberty and the freedom 
of the people." J Holding the opinion that the government of 
the United States would finally determine to make a " common 
cause^' with France, the French Executive Council had fur- 
nished Mr. Genet with blank commissions for privateers, to be 
delivered " to such French or American owners as should ap- 
ply for the same ;" and he had, also, in his possession, "officers' 
commissions, in blank, for several grades in the army." Even 



* Letter (dated June 14, 1793,) from the French Minister Genet, to Mr. Jefferson, Sec- 
retary of State. 

t Jefferson's Correspondence, iii. 248. 

I Am. State Papers— Foreign Relations, i. 709 — Pitkin's Pol. and Civ. His. ii. 361. 

46 



362 HISTORICAL N0TE8. 

before he reached Philadelphia, the seat of government, the 
British Minister laid before the President a list of complaints, 
founded principally on the proceedings of Mr. Genet, who, at 
Charleston, undertook to authorize the fitting and arming of 
vessels, enlisting men, and giving commissions to cruize and 
commit hostilities on nations with whom the United States 
were at peace. * 

Although the President and his Cabinet wished to see the 
cause of republicanism triumph in France, they determined, at 
this crisis, to maintain the neutrality of the United States, how- 
ever general the war might be in Europe ; and on the 22d of 
April, 1793, twenty-three days before Mr. Genet arrived at 
the seat of government, Washington issued a proclamation in 
which it was declared that " the duty and interest of the Uni- 
ted States required that they should, with sincerity and good 
faith, adopt and pursue a conduct friendly and impartial to- 
wards the belligerent" powers " of Europe ; and that " it was 
the disposition of the United States to observe such conduct 
towards those powers respectively." The proclamation, also, 
exhorted and warned the citizens of the United States carefully 
to avoid all acts and proceedings whatsoever tending to con- 
travene such a disposition ; and declared that those citizens of 
the United States, who might render themselves liable to pun- 
ishment, under the law of nations, by committing, aiding, or 
abetting hostilities against any of the belligerent powers, or by 
carrying to any of them those articles which were deemed 
contraband, would not receive the protection of the United 
States, t 

Mr. Genet, on the 16th of May, arrived at Philadelphia, 
where he was received by the administration as the accredited 
Minister of the French Republic; yet, in defiance of the spirit 
of the proclamation of neutrality, he continued to distribute 
military commissions to American citizens, and to authorize 
not only the enlisting of such citizens, but the arming in Amer- 
ican ports, of vessels engaged in the service of France. On the 

* Am. State Papers^Foreign Relations, i. 150, 706 — Pitkin, ii. 367. 
t Am. State Papers — Foreign Relations, i. 140. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 363 

22d of June, 1793, Mr. Jefterson, Secretary of State, received 
a coimnuuication from Mr. Genet, in which that minister said, 
" Do not punish the brave individuals of your nation who ar- 
range themselves under our banner, knowing perfectly well, 
that no law of the United States gives to the government the 
sad power of arresting their zeal by acts of rigor. The Amer- 
icans are free: they are not attached to the glebe like the slaves 
of Russia: they may change their situation when they please."* 
Holding and expressing these opinions, disregarding the remon- 
strances of Washington and his cabinet, and encouraged by the 
sympathy of a large portion of the people of the United States, 
Mr. Genet authorized some of his officers in South Carolina 
and Georgia, to enlist men, and lead an expedition against the 
Spaniards of Florida; and, about the 2d of October, 1793, he 
despatched four Frenchmen, (Charles Delpeau, Mathurin, La 
Chaise, and Gignoux,) from Philadelphia, with a number of 
blank commissions, and with instructions to proceed to Ken- 
tucky, and raise an army of two thousand men, under the au- 
thority of the French RepubUc, for the purpose of invading 
the Spanish possessions of Louisiana.f General George Rogers 
Clark accepted a commission from the agents of Genet, agreed 
to command the proposed expedition against Louisiana, and 
issued proposals for raising troops. In these proposals, he styled 
himself " Major General in the armies of France, and comman- 
der-in-chief of the French revolutionary legions on the Missis- 
sippi;" and called "for volunteers for the reduction of the 
Spanish forts on the Mississippi, for opening the trade of that 
river, and giving freedom to its inhabitants." "All persons 
serving on the expedition, to be entitled to one thousand acres 
of land ; those that engage for one year will be entitled to two 
thousand; if they serve three years, or during the present war 
with France, they will have three thousand acres of any unap- 
propriated land that may be conquered ; the officers in propor- 



* Am. State Papers — Foreign Relations, i. 15G. 

t As early as the month of August, 1793, Genet, Iiaving been informed of the state of 
public opinion in Kentucky on the subject of tlic navigation of the Mississippi, projected 
an expedition from that state against the Spaniards of Tiouisiana. 



364 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

tion, pay, &c. as other French troops; all lawful plunder to be 
equally divided according to the custom of war; those who 
serve the expedition will have their choice of receiving their 
lands, or one dollar per day." * 

The extraordinary pretensions and the unwarrantable acts 
of Mr. Genet, and the many complaints and remonstrances, 
which, in consequence of his proceedings, were laid before 
the government of the United States by the minister of Great 
Britain and the commissioners of Spain, who then resided at 
Philadelphia, finally induced Washington to request the Re- 
public of France to recall its minister. On the 16th of August, 
1793, Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State, despatched to Gouver- 
neur Morris, American minister at Paris, a letter containing 
an account of the conduct of Mr. Genet, with instructions to 
lay the same before the French government. In this letter 
Mr. Jefferson said, " When the government forbids their citi- 
zens to arm and engage in the war, he [Genet] undertakes to 
arm and engage them. When they forbid vessels to be fitted 
in their ports for cruising on nations with w^hom they are at 
peace, he commissions them to fit and cruise. When they 
forbid an unceded jurisdiction to be exercised within their ter- 
ritory by foreign agents, he undertakes to uphold that exercise, 
and to avow it openly. * * * That friendship, which dictates 
to us to bear with his conduct yet awhile, lest the interests of 
his nation here should suffer injury, will hasten them to replace 
an agent w^hose dispositions are such a misrepresentation of 
theirs, and whose continuance here is inconsistent with order, 
peace, respect, and that friendly correspondence which we 
hope will ever subsist between the two nations. His govern- 
ment will see, too, that the case is pressing. That it is impos- 
sible for two sovereign and independent authorities to be going 
on within our territory, at the same time, without collision. 
They will foresee that if Mr. Genet perseveres in his proceed- 
ings, the consequences would be so hazardous to us, the exam- 
ple so humiliating and pernicious, that we may be forced even 

* H. Marshall's His. Kentucky, ii. 100, 102, 103.— Pitkin, il. 381 Butler's His. Ken- 
tucky, 224. — Am. State Papers, Foreign Relations, i. 454 to 460. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 365 

to suspend his functions before a successor can arrive to con- 
tinue them. If our citizens have not already been shedding 
each other's blood, it is not owing to the moderation of Mr. 
Genet, but to the forbearance of the government." * 

A copy of this letter from the Secretary of State to Gouver- 
neur Morris, was sent to Mr. Genet, who, on the ISth of Sep- 
tember, 1793, wrote to Mr. Jefferson a letter which contained 
the following remarkable expressions: -'It is in the name of the 
French people, that I am sent to their brethren — to free and 
sovereign men. It is then for the representatives of the Amer- 
ican people, and not for a single man, to exhibit against me an 
act "of accusation, if I have merited it. A despot may singly 
permit himself to demand from another despot the recall of his 
representative, and to order his expulsion in case of refusal. 
This is what the Empress of Russia did with respect to myself, 
from Louis XVI. But in a free state it cannot be so, unless 
order be entirely subverted; unless the people, in a moment of 
blindness, choose to rivet their fetters, in making to a single 
individual the abandonment of their most precious rights. * * * 
You are made to reproach me with having indiscreetly given 
to my official proceedings a tone of color, which has induced a 
belief, that they did not know, in France, either my character 
or my manners. I will tell you the reason, sir: it is that a 
pure and warm blood runs with rapidity in my veins ; that I 
love passionately my country ; that I adore the cause of liber- 
ty; that I am always ready to sacrifice my life to it; that to 
me, it appears inconceivable, that all the enemies of tyranny, 
that all virtuous men, do not march with us to the combat ; 
and that, when I find an injustice is done to my fellow citizens, 
that their interests are not espoused with the zeal which they 
merit, no consideration in the world would hinder either my 
pen or my tongue from tracing, from expressing my pain. 1 
will tell you then without ceremony, that I have been ex- 
tremely wounded, sir: 1st, That the President of the United 
States was in a hurry, before knowing what I had to transmit 

* Am. State Papera — Foreign Relations, i. 170. 



366 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

to him, on the part of the French Repubhc, to proclaim senti- 
ments, on which decency and friendship should at least have 
drawn a veil. 2d, That he did not speak to me at my lirst 
audience, but of the friendship of the United States towards 
France, without saying a word to me, without announcing a 
single sentiment, on our Revolution ; while all the towns from 
Charleston to Philadelphia, had made the air resound with 
their most ardent wishes for the French Republic. 3d, That 
he had received and admitted to a private audience, before my 
arrival, Noailles and Talon, known agents of the French coun- 
ter-revolutionists, who have since had intimate relations with 
two members of the Federal Government. 4th, That this first 
Magistrate of a free people, decorated his parlor with certain 
medallions of Capet* and his family, which served at Paris as 
signals of rallying. 5th, That the first complaints which were 
made to my predecessor on the armaments and prizes which 
took place at Charleston on my arrival, were, in fact, but a 
paraphrase of the notes of the English minister. 6th, That 
the Secretary of War, f to whom I communicated the wish of 
our governments of the Windward Islands, to receive promptly 
some fire-arms and some cannon, which might put into a state 
of defence possessions guarantied by the United States, had 
the front to answer with an ironical carelessness, that the prin- 
ciples established by the President, did not permit him to lend 
us so much as a pistol. 7th, That the Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, J with whom I had a conversation on the proposition 
which I made to convert almost the whole American debt, by 
means of an operation of finance authorized by law, into flour» 
rice, grain, salted provisions, and other objects of which France 
had the most pressing need, added to the refusal which he had 
already made officially of favoring this arrangement, the positive 
declaration, that, even if it were practicable, the United States 
could not consent to it, because England would not fail to con- 
sider this extraordinary reimbursement furnished to a nation 

* Louis XVI. 

t General Henry Knox. 

J Alexander Hamilton. ^ 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 367 

with which she is at war, as an act of hostihty. 8th, That, 
by instructions from the President of the United States, the 
American citizens who ranged themselves under the banners 
of France, have been prosecuted and arrested ; a crime against 
Hberty unheard of, of which a virtuous and popular jury aven- 
ged with eclat the defenders of the best of causes. 9th, That 
incompetent tribunals were suffered to take cognizance of facts 
relative to prizes which treaties interdict them expressly from 
doing; that, on their acknowledgment of their incompetency, 
this property, acquired by the right of war, was taken from us, 
that it was thought ill of, that our consuls protested against 
these arbitrary acts, and that, as a reward for his devotion to 
his duty, the one at Boston was imprisoned as a malefactor. 
10th, That the President of the United States took on himself 
to give to our treaties arbitrary interpretations, absolutely 
contrary to their true sense, and that, by a series of decisions 
which they would have us receive as laAvs, he left no other 
indemnification to France for the blood she spilt, for the trea- 
sure she dissipated in fighting for the independence of the 
United States, but the illusory advantage of bringing into their 
ports the prizes made on their enemies, without being able to 
sell them. 11th, That no answer is yet given to the notifica- 
tion of the decree of the National Convention for opening our 
ports in the two worlds to the American citizens, and granting 
the same favors to them as to the French citizens — advantages 
which will cease if there be a continuance to treat us with the 
same injustice. 12th, That he [Washington] has deferred, in 
spite of my respectful insinuations, to convoke Congress imme- 
diately, in order to take the true sentiments of the people, to 
fix the political system of the United States, and to decide 
whether they will break, suspend, or tighten their bands with 
France — an honest measure, which would have avoided to 
the General Government much contradiction and subterfuge, 
to me much pain and disgust, to the local governments, embar- 
rassments so much the greater, as they found themselves placed 
between treaties, which are laws, and decisions of the Federal 
Government, which are not: in fine, to the tribunals, duties so 



368 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

much the more painful to fulfil, as they have been often under 
the necessity of giving judgments contrary to the intentions of 
the government. It results from all these facts, sir, that I could 
not but be profoundly aftected with the conduct of the Federal 
Government towards my country." * 

By letters of the 9th of November, 1793, President Wash- 
ington requested Isaac Shelby, Governor of Kentucky, and 
Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Territory of the United 
States northwest of the river Ohio, to " take all the measures 
in the course of the law," and, " if necessary, to use effectual 
military force" for the prevention of any hostile enterprise 
against the possessions of Spain on the Mississippi. Governor 
St. Clair immediately published a proclamation in his territory 
informing the citizens of the contemplated invasion, and warn- 
ing them of the dangerous consequences of participating in it. 
The Governor of Kentucky, on the 13th of January, 1794, 
wrote to Mr. Jefferson, Secretary of State of the United States, 
a letter which contained the following passage : " I have great 
doubts, even if they [the agents and officers of Genet] do at- 
tempt to carry their plan into execution, (provided they man- 
age their business with prudence,) whether there is any legal 
authority to restrain or punish them, at least before they have 
actually accomplished it: for, if it is lawful for any one citizen 
of this state to leave it, it is equally so for any number of them 
to do it. It is also lawful for them to carry with them any 
quantity of provisions, arms, and ammunition ; and, if the act 
is lawful in itself, there is nothing but the particular intention 
with which it is done that can possibly make it unlawful ; but 
I know of no law w^hich inflicts a punishment on intention, 
only, or a criterion by which to decide what would be suffi- 
cient evidence of that intention, if it was a proper subject of 
legal censure. I shall, upon all occasions, be averse to the ex- 
ercise of any power which I do not consider myself as being 
clearly and explicitly invested with ; much less would I assume 
a power to exercise it against men who I consider as friends 

* Am, State Papers — Foreign Relations, i. 172. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 369 

and brethren, in favor of a man whom I view as an enemy 
and a tyrant. I shall also feel but little inclination to take an 
active part in punishing or restraining any of my fellow citi- 
zens for a supposed intention, only to gratify or remove the 
fears of the minister to a prince, who openly Avithholds from 
us an invaluable right, and who secretly instigates against us 
a most savage and cruel enemy. But, whatever may be my 
private opinion as a man, as a friend to liberty, an American 
citizen, and an inhabitant of the western waters, I shall, at all 
times, hold it as my duty to perform whatever may be consti- 
tutionally required of me, as Governor of Kentucky, by the 
President of the United States." * 

In the state of Kentucky, the friends of the Republic of 
France continued their efforts to raise an army for the inva- 
sion of Louisiana. They enlisted men, purchased boats, pro- 
visions, arms, and ammunition, and fixed the place of rendez- 
vous at the falls of the river Ohio, from which point they ex- 
pected to move, with two thousand men, on the 15th of April, 
1794. At this time, while the foreign and domestic affairs of 
the American government were in a critical condition, the fact 
that the sympathy of a very large portion of the people of the 
United States was strongly enlisted in the cause of France, did 
not escape the jealous vigilance of the governments of Great 
Britain and Spain. Hence, at Quebec, on the 10th of Febru- 
ary, 1794, Lord Dorchester told a number of Indian chiefs 
" that he should not be surprised if Great Britain and the Uni- 
ted States were at war in the course of the year." Soon after 
this declaration was made Lieutenant Governor Simcoe was 
ordered to establish a British military post at the foot of the 
Rapids of the river Maumee, in the heart of the Indian coun- 
try; and, early in the spring of 1794, a messenger from the 
Spaniards west of the Mississippi, arrived among the Indians, 
who were assembled at the Rapids of the Maumee. This mes- 
senger was "charged with a war speech, offering assistance 
from the Spanish settlements about the Mississippi."! 

* Am. State Papers — Foreign Relations, i. 456. 
t Stone's Life of Brant, ii. 375. 

47 



370 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

In the month of February, 1794, Mr. Fauchet arrived m the 
United States, and was received as the accredited mhiister of 
the French RepubHc, in the place of Mr. Genet. The new- 
minister condemned the conduct of his predecessor, and, for a 
brief period of time '• used all the means in his power to pre- 
vent [French] armaments in the United States." * 

On the 24th of March, 1794, President Washington publish- 
ed the following proclamation : — "Whereas I have received 
information that certain persons, in violation of the laws, have 
presumed, under color of a foreign authority, to enlisi citizens 
of the United States and others, within the state of Kentucky, 
and have there assembled an armed force, for the purpose of 
invading and plundering the territories of a nation at peace 
with the United States: And, whereas, such unwarrantable 
measures, being contrary to the laws of nations, and to the 
duties incumbent on every citizen of the United States, tend 
to disturb the tranquillity of the same, and to involve them in 
the calamities of war : And, whereas, it is the duty of the Ex- 
ecutive to take care that such criminal proceedings should be 
suppressed, the offenders brought to justice, and all good citi- 
zens cautioned against measures likely to prove so pernicious 
to their country and themselves, should they be seduced into 
similar infractions of the laws. I have, therefore, thought pro- 
per to issue this proclamation, hereby solemnly w^arning every 
person not authorized by the laws, against enlisting any citi- 
zen or citizens of the United States, or levying troops, or as- 
sembling any persons within the United States for the purpo- 
ses aforesaid, or proceeding in any manner to the execution 
thereof, as they will answer the same at their peril : And I do, 
also, admonish and require all citizens to refrain from enlisting, 
enrolling, or assembling themselves for such unlawful purposes; 
and from being in any way concerned, aiding, or abetting 
therein, as they tender their own welfare; inasmuch as all 
lawful means will be strictly put in execution for securing obe- 
dience to the laws, and for punishing such daring and danger- 



* Am. State Papers — Foreign Relations, i. 588. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 371 

ous violations. And I do, moreover, charge and require all 
courts, magistrates, and other officers whom it may concern, 
according to their respective duties, to exert the powers in 
them severally vested, to prevent and suppress all such unlaw- 
ful assemblages and proceedings, and to bring to condign pun- 
ishment those who may have been guilty thereof, as they re- 
gard the due authority of government, and the peace and wel- 
fare of the United States. In testimony whereof I have caused 
the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these 
presents, and signed the same with my hand. Done at Phila- 
delphia, the 24th day of March, 1794, and of the independence 
of the United States of America, the eighteenth. 

Go. WASHINGTON." 

On the 31st of March, seven days after the publication of 
the Ibregoing proclamation, Washington despatched orders 
and instructions to General Wayne, requiring that officer to 
send a "detachment to take post at Fort Massac;* and to 
erect a strong redoubt and blockhouse, with some suitable 
cannon from Fort Washington." In obedience to this requi- 
sition, General Wayne ordered Major Thomas Doyle, with a 
small detachment consisting of infantry and artillery, to move 
from Fort Washington down the river Ohio, and fortify the 
site of old Fort Massac. Major Doyle was furnished with the 
following instructions, which were marked "secret and confi- 
dential." — "It has not been unknown to you, that a number 
of lawless people, residing on the waters of the Ohio, in defi- 
ance of the national authority, have entertained the daring de- 
sign of invading the territories of Spain. The atrocity of this 
measure, and its probable effects, are pointed out in the proc- 
lamation of the President of the United States, herewith deliv- 
ered to you. If this design should be persisted in, or hereafter 
revived, and any such parties should make their appearance in 
the neighborhood of your garrison, and you should be well in- 



* Fort Massac, or "the old Cherokee fort," stood an the northern bank of tlie Ohio, 
about eight miles below the mouth of the Tennessee river. It is said that the name of this 
place had its origin in the massacre of a small number of Frenchmen who made an attempt 
in the early part of the 18th century, to establish a trading post at this point. 



372 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

formed that they are armed and equipped for war, and enter- 
tain the criminal intention described in the President's procla- 
mation, you are to send to them some person in whose veracity 
you could confide, and if such person should be a peace officer 
he would be the most proper messenger, and warn them of 
their evil proceedings, and forbid their attempting to pass the 
fort at their peril. But if, notwithstanding every peaceable 
effort to persuade them to abandon their criminal design, they 
should still persist in their attempts to pass down the Ohio, 
you are to use every military means in your power for pre- 
venting them, and for which this shall be your sufficient justi- 
fication, -provided you have taken all the pacific steps before 
directed." 

The discouraging conduct of the new French minister, the 
proclamation of the President, the passage, by Congress, of a 
law " providing for the punishment of certain crimes against 
the United States," *' and the erection of a military post at 
Fort Massac, finally forced the friends of the French Republic 
to abandon, reluctantly, an expedition which was planned and 
almost prepared, "for the reduction of the Spanish forts on 
the Mississippi, for opening the trade of that river, and giving 
freedom to its inhabitants." 

On the morning of the 30th day of June, 1794, an escort con- 
sisting of ninety riflemen and fifty dragoons, commanded by Ma- 
jor McMahon, was attacked by " a numerous body of Indians, 
under the walls of Fort Recovery." f The Indians, who were 
probably assisted by a small number of British agents and 
French Canadian volunteers, made several attacks on the fort 
within the space of about twenty-four hours, when they reti- 
red. In these attacks the Americans lost twenty-two men 
killed, thirty wounded, and three missing. They also lost two 
hundred and twenty-one horses, killed, wounded and missing. 
Among the officers killed, were Major McMahon, Captain 

*Laws of the United States, ii. 425. 

t Am. State Papers — Indian Affairs, 1. 487. — Tlie number of Indians wlio were engaged 
in this attack on Fort Recovery, lias been variously estimated at from seven hundred to 
fifteen hundred men. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 373 

Hartshorne, Lieutenant Craig, and Cornet Torry. Captain 
Alexander Gibson, (who was the commandant at Fort Recov- 
ery,) Captain Taylor, of the dragoons, and Lieutenant Drake, 
of the infantry, were distinguished for their gallant conduct. 
The Indians left eight or ten warriors dead on the field; al- 
though " they were employed during the night, which was 
dark and foggy, in carrying off their dead [and wounded] by 
torch light." * 

On the 26th of July, 1794, Major General Scott, with about 
sixteen hundred mounted volunteers from Kentucky, arrived 
at Fort Greenville, and joined the regular troops under the 
command of Wayne ; and, on the 2Sth of July the united for- 
ces commenced their march for the Indian towns on the Mau- 
mee river. On the banks of St. Mary's river, at a point about 
twenty-four miles northward of Fort Recovery, Wayne erect- 
ed and garrisoned a small post which he named Fort Adams. 
The army moved from this position on the 4th of August, and 
arrived, on the 8th of the same month, at the confluence of the 
Maumee and Auglaize rivers. In a letter, dated at this place 
on the 14th of August, 1794, and addressed to the Secretary of 
War, General Wayne said, " I have the honor to inform you 
that the army under my command took possession of this very 
important post on the morning of the Sth instant — the enemy 
on the preceding evening, having abandoned all their settle- 
ments, towns, and villages, with such apparent marks of sur- 
prise and precipitation, as to amount to a positive proof that 
our approach was not discovered by them, until the arrival of 
a Mr. Newman, of the Quartermaster General's Department, 
who deserted from the army near the St. Mary's. * * * I had 
made such demonstrations, for a length of time previously to 
taking up our line of march, as to induce the savages to expect 
our advance by the route of the Miami villages, to the left, or 
towards Roche de Bout, by the right ; which feints appear to 
have produced the desired effect, by drawing the attention of 
the enemy to those points, and gave an opening for the army 

*Letter from Wayne to the Secretary of War, dated "Greenville, 7th July, 1794." 



374 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

to approach undiscovei'ed by a devious, i. e in a central direc- 
tion. Thus, sir, we have gained possession of the grand empo- 
rium of the hostile Indians of the west, without loss of blood. 
The very extensive and highly cultivated fields and gardens, 
show the work of many hands. The margin of those beautiful 
rivers, the Miamies of the Lake [or Maumee] and Auglaize, 
appear like one continued village for a number of miles, both 
above and below this place; nor have I ever before beheld 
such immense fields of corn, in any part of America, from 
Canada to Florida. We are now employed in completing a 
strong stockade fort, with four good block houses, by way of 
bastions, at the confluence of Auglaize and the [Maumee,] 
which I have called Defiance. * * * Every thing is now pre- 
pared for a forward move to-morrow morning, towards Roche 
de Bout, or foot of the Rapids. * * * Yet I have thought pro- 
per to offer the enemy a last overture of peace ; and as they 
have every thing that is dear and interesting now at stake, I 
have reason to expect that they will listen to the proposition 
mentioned in the enclosed copy of an address,* despatched 
yesterday by a special flag [Christopher Miller,] who I sent 
under circumstances that will ensure his safe return, and which 
may eventually spare the eff'usion of much human blood. But 
should war be their choice, that blood be upon their own 
heads. America shall no longer be insulted with impunity. 

*This letter was addressed "To the Delawares, Shawaiiese, Miamies, and VVyaiidots, 
and to each and every of them ; and to all other nations of Indians, northwest of tl:e Ohio, 
whom it may concern." It contained the following passage : — "Brothers : Be no longer 
deceived or led astray by tlie false promises and language of the bad white men at the foot 
of the Rapids; they have neither the power nor inclination to protect you. No longer shut 
your eyes to your true interest and happiness, nor your ears to this last overture of peace. 
But, in pity to your innocent women and children, come and prevent the further effusion of 
your blood; let them experience the kindness and friendship of the United States of America, 
and the invaluable blessings of peace and tranquillity." The letter, also, invited "each and 
every hostile tribe of Indians to appoint deputies" to meet Wayne, without delay, between 
the mouth of Auglaize and ttie foot of the Rapids of the Maumee, "in order to settle the 
preliminaries of a lasting peace." Miller, the bearer of the letter, left Fort Defiance at 
four o'clock, P. M. on the 13th of August : on the 16th, he brought an answer from some 
of the hostile Indians to General Wayne, in which they said "that if he waited where he 
was ten days, and then sent Miller for them, they would treat with him; but that if he 
advanced they would give him battle." 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 375 

To an all-powerful and just God I therefore connnit myself 
and gallant army." 

General Wayne moved with his forces from Fort Defiance, 
on the 15th of August, 1794, and directed his march towards 
the British fort at the foot of the Rapids of the river Maumee. 
On the 20th of August he gained a decisive victory over the 
army of the Indians. The battle was fought on the left bank 
of the Maumee, almost within the reach of the guns of the 
British fort. The following account of this engagement was 
transmitted, by General Wayne, to the Secretary of War. 

"Head Quarters, [Fort Defiance,] 

Grand Glaize, 28th August, 1794. 

"Sir: It is with infinite pleasure that I now announce to you 
the brilliant success of the Federal army under my command, 
in a general action with the combined force of the hostile In- 
dians, and a considerable number of the volunteers and militia 
of Detroit, on the 20th instant, on the banks of the Maumee, 
in the vicinity of the British post and garrison, at the foot of 
the Rapids. The army advanced from this place [Fort Defi- 
ance] on the 15th, and arrived at Roche de Boui on the 18th: 
the 19th was employed in making a temporary post* for the 
reception of our stores and baggage, and in reconnoitering the 
position of the enemy, who were encamped behind a thick 
brushy wood and the British fort. 

*'At eight o'clock on the morning of the 20th, the army 
again advanced in columns, agreeably to the standing order of 
march ; the Legion on the right, its flank covered by the Mau- 
mee ; one brigade of mounted volunteers on the left, under 
Brigadier General Todd, and the other in the rear under Brig- 
adier General Barbee. A select battalion of mounted volun- 
teers moved in front of the Legion, commanded by Major 
Price, who was directed to keep sufficiently advanced, so as to 
give timely notice for the troops to form in case of action, it 
being yet undetermined whether the Indians would decide for 
peace or war. 

*This post, which was called "Fort Deposit," was about seven miles from the British 
fort at the foot of tlie Rapids. 



376 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

"After advancing about five miles Major Price's corps re- 
ceived so severe a fire from the enemy, who were secreted in 
the woods and high grass, as to compel them to retreat. The 
Legion was immediately formed in two lines, principally in a 
close thick wood, which extended for miles on our left, and for' 
a very considerable distance in front; the ground being cover- 
ed with old fallen timber, probably occasioned by a tornado, 
Avhich rendered it impracticable for the cavalry to act with 
eftect, and afforded the enemy the most favorable covert for 
their mode of warfare. The savages were formed in three 
lines, within supporting distance of each other, and extending 
for near two miles, at right angles with the river. I soon dis- 
covered, from the weight of the fire and extent of their lines, 
that the enemy were in full force in front, in possession of 
their favorite ground, and endeavoring to turn our left flank. 
I therefore gave orders for the second line to advance and sup- 
port the first; and directed Major General Scott to gain and 
turn the right flank of the savages, with the whole of the 
mounted volunteers, by a circuitous route; at the same time 
I ordered the front line to advance and charge with trailed 
arms, and rouse the Indians from their coverts at the point of 
the bayonet, and when up, to deliver a close and well directed 
fire on their backs, followed by a brisk charge, so as not to give 
them time to load again. 

" I also ordered Captain Mis Campbell, who commanded the 
legionary cavalry, to turn the left flank of the enemy next the 
river, and which afforded a favorable field for that corps to act 
in. All these orders were obeyed with spirit and promptitude ; 
but such was the impetuosity of the charge by the first line of 
infantry, that the Indians and Canadian militia and volunteers, 
were drove from all their coverts in so short a time, that, al- 
though every possible exertion was used by the officers of the 
second line of the Legion, and by Generals Scott, Todd, and 
Barbee, of the mounted volunteers, to gain their proper posi- 
tions, but part of each could get up in season to participate in 
the action ; the enemy being drove, in the course of one hour, 
more than two miles, through the thick woods already men- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 377 

tioned, by less than one half their numbers. From every ac- 
count the enemy amounted to two thousand combatants. The 
troops actually engaged against them were short of nine hun- 
dred.* This horde of savages, with their allies, abandoned 
themselves to flight, and dispersed with terror and dismay, 
leaving our victorious army in full and quiet possession of the 
field of battle, which terminated under the influence of the 
guns of the British garrison, as you will observe by the enclos- 
ed correspondence between Major Campbell, the commandant, 
and myself, upon the occasion. 

"The bravery and conduct of every officer belonging to the 
army, from the Generals down to the Ensigns, merit my high- 
est approbation. There were, however, some, whose rank 
and situation placed their conduct in a very conspicuous point 
of view, and which I observed with pleasure, and the most 
lively gratitude. Among whom, I must beg leave to mention 
Brigadier General Wilkinson, and Colonel Hamtramck, the 
commandants of the right and left wings of the Legion, whose 
brave example inspired the troops. To those I must add the 
names of my faithful and gallant aids-de-camp, Captains De 
Butt and T. Lewis, and Lieutenant Harrison, who with the 
Adjutant General, Major Mills, rendered the most essential 
service by communicating my orders in every direction, and 
by their conduct and bravery exciting the troops to press for 
victory. Lieutenant Covington, upon whom the command of 
the cavalry now devolved, cut down two savages with his own 
hand, and Lieutenant Webb one, in turning the enemy's left 
flank. The wounds received by Captains Slough and Prior, 
and Lieutenant Campbell Smith, an extra aid-de-camp to Gen- 
eral Wilkinson, of the legionary infantry, and Captain Van 
Rensselaer, of the dragoons, Captain Rawlins, Lieutenant 

k The exact number of Iiuliaiis engaged in this action, against Wayne's army, has never 
been ascertained. There were, however, about 450 Delawares, 175 Mianiies, 275 Shawa- 
nees, 225 Ottawas, 275 Wyandots, and a small number of Senecas, Pottawattamies, and 
Chippcwas. The number of white men who fought in defence of the Indians in this en- 
gagement, was about seventy, including a corps of volunteers from Detroit, under the 
command of Captain Caldwell. 

48 



378 HISTORICAL NOTES, 

McKenny, and Ensign Duncan, of the mounted volunteers, 
bear honorable testimony of their bravery and conduct. 

"Captains H. Lewis and Brock, with their companies of 
light infantry, had to sustain an unequal fire for some time, 
which they supported with fortitude. In fact^ every officer 
and soldier, who had an opportunity to come into action, dis- 
played that true bravery which will always ensure success. 
And here permit me to declare, that I never discovered more 
true spirit and anxiety for action, than appeared to pervade 
the whole of the mounted volunteers ; and I am well persuaded 
that, had the enemy maintained their favorite ground for one 
half hour longer, they would have most severely felt the prow- 
ess of that corps. But, whilst I pay this tribute to the living, I 
must not neglect the gallant dead, among whom we have to la- 
ment the early death of those worthy and brave officers. Cap- 
tain Mis Campbell, of the dragoons, and Lieutenant Towles, of 
the light infantry, of the Legion, who fell in the first charge. 

" Enclosed is a particular return of the killed and wounded.* 
The loss of the enemy was more than double to that of the 
Federal army. The woods were strewed for a considerable 
distance with the dead bodies of Indians,! ^^^ their white aux- 
iliaries, the latter armed with British muskets and bayonets. 

" We remained three days and nights on the banks of the 
Maumee, in front of the field of battle, during which time all 
the houses and cornfields were consumed and destroyed for a 
considerable distance both above and below Fort Miami, as 
well as within pistol shot of the garrison, who were compelled 
to remain tacit spectators to this general devastation and con- 
flagration, among which were the houses, stores, and property 
of Colonel McKee, the British . Indian Agent, and principal 
stimulator of the war now existing between the United States 
and the savages. 

* According to this return, the regular troops lost twenty-six killed, and eighty.seven 
wounded. The loss of the Kentucky volunteers was seven killed, and thirteen wounded. 
Nine regulars and two volunteers died of their wounds, before the 28th of August, 1794. 

t A "Daily Journal of Wayne's Campaign," says, "the enemy giving way in all quar- 
ters * * * left us in possession of their dead to the number of forty." — [Am. Pion. i. 318- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 379 

" The army returned to this place [Fort Defiance] on the 
27th, by easy marches, laying waste the villages and cornfields 
for about fifty miles on each side of the Maumee. There re- 
mains yet a great number of villages, and a great quantity of 
corn, to be consumed or destroyed, upon Auglaize and the 
Maumee above this place, which will be effected in the course 
of a few days. In the interim, we shall improve Fort Defiance, 
and, as soon as the escort returns with the necessary supplies 
from Greenville and Fort Recovery, the army will proceed to 
the Miami villages, in order to accomplish the object of the 
campaign. It is, however, not improbable that the enemy may 
make one desperate effort against the army ; as it is said that 
a reinforcement was hourly expected at Fort Miami* from 
Niagara, as well as numerous tribes of Indians living on the 
margin and islands of the lakes. This is a business rather to 
be wished for than dreaded, whilst the army remains in force. 
Their numbers will only tend to confuse the savages, and the 
victory will be the more complete and decisive, and which 
may eventually ensure a permanent and happy peace. 

Under these impressions, I have the honor to be your most 
obedient and very humble servant, 

ANTHONY WAYNE. 
• The Hon. Major General H. Knox, Secretary of War." 

Immediately after the action of the 20th of August, the 
American troops continued their march down the northwest- 
ern banks of the Maumee, and encamped within view of the 
British fort.f While the American army occupied this position, 
(from the afternoon of the 20th to the forenoon of the 23d,) 
five lettes passed between General Wayne and Major Camp- 
bell, the commandan.t of Fort Miami. Copies of these letters 
here follow : 



« At the time of the action of the 20th of August, the garrison of this fort consisted of 
about 250 regulars and 200 militia. There were "fou,r nine-pounders, two large howitzers 
and sis six-pounders mounted in the fort, and two swivels." — [Am. State Papers. 

t This fort, which was called "Fort Miami" [or Maumee] stood on the northwestern 
hank of the river Maumee, at or near the site on which Maumee city, (in Lucas County, 
Ohio,) now stands 



380 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

[ NUMBER I.] 

'•Miami [Maumee] River, August 21, 1794. 

"Sir: An army of the United States of America, said to be 
under your command, having taken post on the banks of the 
Miami [Maumee] for upwards of the last twenty-four hours, 
almost within the reach of tlie guns of this fort, being a post 
belonging to His Majesty the King of Great Britain, occupied 
by His Majesty's troops, and Avhich I have the honor to com- 
mand, it becomes my duty to inform myself, as speedily as 
possible, in what light I am to view your making such near 
approaches to this garrison. I have no hesitation, on my part, 
to say, that I know of no war existing between Great Britain 
and America. 

I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, your most 
obedient and very humble servant, 

WILLIAM CAMPBELL, Major 24th Regiment, 
Commanding a British post on the banks of the Miami. 

To Major General Wayne, &c." 

[number II.] 

" Camp on the bank of the Miami, [Maumee,] 

August 21, 1794. 

"Sir: I have received your letter of this date, requiring from 
me the motives which have moved the army under my com- 
mand to the position they at present occupy, far within the 
acknowledged jurisdiction of the United States of America. 
Without questioning the authority or the propriety, sir, of 
your interrogatory, I think I may, without breach of decorum, 
observe to you, that, were you entitled to an answer, the most 
full and satisfactory one was announced to you from the muzzles 
of my small arms, yesterday morning, in the action against the 
horde of savages in the vicinity of your post, which terminated 
gloriously to the American arms ; but, had it continued until 
the Indians, &c. were driven under the influence of the post 
and guns you mention, they would not have much impeded 
the progress of the victorious army under my command, as no 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 381 

such post was established at the commencement of the present 
war between the Indians and the United States. 

I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, your most 
obedient and very humb'le servant, 

ANTHONY WAYNE, Major General, 

And Commander-in-chief of the Federal Army. 
To Major William Campbell, &c." 

[number III.] 

« Fort Miami, August 22d, 1794. 

" Sir : Although your letter of yesterday's date fully authori- 
zes me to any act of hostility against the army of the United 
States of America in this neighborhood, under your command, 
yet, still anxious to prevent that dreadful decision, which, per- 
haps, is not intended to be appealed to by either of pur coun- 
tries, I have forborne, for those two days past, to resent those 
insults you have offered to the British flag flying at this fort, 
by approaching it within pistol shot of my works, not only 
singly, but in numbers, with arms in their hands. Neither is 
it my wish to wage war with individuals; but, should you, 
after this, continue to approach my post in the threatening 
manner you are at this moment doing, my indispensable duty 
to my king and country, and the honor of my pj'ofession, will 
oblige me to have recourse to those measures, which thousands 
of either nation may hereafter have cause to regret, and which, 
I solemnly appeal to God, I have used my utmost endeavors to 
arrest. 

I have the honor to be, sir, with much respect, your most 
obedient and very humble servant, 

WILLIAM CAMPBELL, Major 24th Regiment, 

Commanding at Fort Miami. 

Major General Wayne, &c. 

[ number IV.] 

" Camp, banks of the Miami, 22d August, 1794: 
"Sir: In your letter of the 21st instant, you declare, " Ihave 
no hesitation, on my part, to say, that I know of no war exist- 



382 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

ing between Great Brkain and America.'' I, on my part, de- 
clare the same, and that the only cause I have to entertain a 
contrary idea at present, is the hostile act you are now in 
commission of, i. e. by recently taking post far within the well 
known and acknowledged limits of the United States, and 
erecting a fortification in the heart of the settlements of the 
Indian tribes now at war with the United States. This, sir, 
appears to be an act of the highest aggression, and destructive 
to the peace and interest of the Union. Hence, it becomes 
my duty to desire, and I do hereby desire and demand, in the 
name of the President of the United States, that you immedi- 
ately desist from any further act of hostility or aggression, by 
forbearing to fortify, and by withdrawing the troops, artillery, 
and stores, under your orders and direction, forthwith, and 
removing to the nearest post occupied by His Britannic Ma- 
jesty's troops at the peace of 1783, and which you will be per- 
mitted to do unmolested by the troops under my command. 

I am, with very great respect, sir, your most obedient and 
very humble servant, 

ANTHONY WAYNE. 

Major William Campbell, &c. 

[number v.] 

" Fort Miami, 22d August, 1794. 
"Sir: I have this moment the honor to acknowledge the 
receipt of your letter of this date ; in answer to which I have 
only to say, that, being placed here in the command of a Brit- 
ish post, and acting in a military capacity only, I cannot enter 
into any discussion, either on the right or impropriety of my 
occupying my present position. Those are matters that I con- 
ceive will be best left to the ambassadors of our different na- 
tions. Having said this much, permit me to inform you that I 
certainly will not abandon this post at the summons of any 
power whatever, until I receive orders to that purpose from 
those I have the honor to serve under, or the fortune of war 
should oblige me. I must still adhere, sh, to the purport of my 
letter this morning, to desire that your army, or individuals 



HISTORICAL iNOTES. 383 

belonging to it, will not opproach within reach of my cannon, 
without expecting the consequences attending it. Although 1 
have said in the former part of my letter, that my situation 
here is totally military, yet, let me add, sir, that I am much 
deceived, if His Majesty, the King of Great Britain, had not a 
post on this river, at and prior to the period you mention. 

I have the honor to be, sir, with the greatest respect, your 
most obedient and very humble servant, 

WILLIAM CAMPBELL, Major 24th Regiment, 

Commanding at Fort Miami. 

To Major General Wayne, 6z:c." 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

On the 14th of September, 1794, the army under the com- 
mand of Wayne moved from Fort Defiance and marched to- 
wards the deserted Miami village which stood at the conflu- 
ence of the rivers St. Joseph and St. Mary's. The troops 
reached that place on the 17th of September; and, on the 
18th, General Wayne reconnoitered the ground, and selected 
a site for a fort. On the 22d of October, a fort was completed 
and garrisoned by a strong detachment, consisting of infantry 
and artillery, under the command of Colonel John F. Ham- 
tramck, who gave to the new fortification the name of Fort 
Wayne. The mounted volunteers of Kentucky moved from 
the Miami village on the 14th of October, on their way to 
Fort Washington, where, soon after their arrival, they were 
mustered and discharged. On the 28th of October, the main 
body of the regular froops marched from Fort Wayne on the 
route to Fort Greenville; at which post, on the 2d of Novem- 
ber, General Wayne again established his head-quarters. 

The Indians, who were defeated on the 20th of August, 
1794, retired, disappointed and disheartened, to the borders of 
Maumee Bay : and, while Wayne continued to send messages 
to them, renewing his overtures of peace and friendship and 
inviting them to visit Fort Greenville for the purpose of con- 
cluding a treaty with the United States, Lieutenant Governor 
Simcoe, Colonel McKee and other officers of the British Indian 
department, persuaded Little Turtle, Blue Jacket, Buck-ong-a- 
he-Ls, and other distinguished chiefs, to agree to hold an In- 
dian Council at the mouth of Detroit river. After the action 
of the 20th of August, there was a general suspension of hos- 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 385 

tilities on the part of the Indians, who seemed to be inclined 
to determine for war or peace, " according to the certainty or 
uncertainty of effectual support from the British." * A war 
between Great Britain and the United States at this juncture, 
was, however, prevented mainly by the prudence and firmness 
of Washington, seconded by the diplomatic skill of John Jay, 
who, on the 19th of April, 1794, was appointed Envoy Extra- 
ordinary from the United States of America to the Court of 
St. James, " for the purpose of confirming, between the United 
States of America and His Britannic Majesty, perfect harmony 
and a good correspondence, and of removing all grounds of 
dissatisfaction." t On the 19th of November, 1794, at London, 
after protracted and perplexing negotiations, Mr. Jay and 
William Wyndham (Lord Grenville) concluded a treaty of 
amity, commerce, and navigation, between the United States 
and Great Britain. 

This treaty was comprised in twenty-nine articles, the first 
of which was in the words following: "There shall be a firm, 
inviolable, and universal peace, and a true and sincere friend- 
ship, between His Britannic Majesty, his heirs and successors, 
and the United States of America; and between their respec- 
tive countries, territories, cities, towns, and people of every 
degree, without exception of persons or places." By the se- 
cond article of the treaty, the King of Great Britain agreed to 
withdraw, on or before the 1st day of June, 1796, all his troops 
and garrisons from all posts and places within the boundary 
lines assigned to the United States by the treaty of peace of 
1783. 

During the winter of 1794-5, General Wayne was visited 
at his head-quarters by parties of Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippe- 
was, Pottawattamies, Sacs, Miamies, Delawares, and Shawa- 
nees ; who, respectively, signed preliminary articles of peace, 
and agreed to meet Wayne at Greenville, on or about the 15th 
of June, 1795, with all the sachems and war chiefs of their 

* Am. State Papers — Indian Affairs, p. 529. 

t Letters of credence from VVasliingtou to Jolin Jay — Am. State Papers — Foreign Rela 
lions, i. 471 

49 



386 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

nations, for the purpose of concluding a definitive treaty of 
peace between the United States and the Indian tribes of the 
northwestern territory. 

Early in the month of June, 1795, strong deputations from 
various tribes arrived at Greenville. The treaty of Fort Har- 
mar, which was concluded at the mouth of the Muskingum, on 
the 9th of January, 1789, was selected by General Wayne as 
the foundation upon which the Indians were required to begin 
negotiations for peace. In the course of these negotiations, 
which were carried on from the 16th of June to the 10th of 
August, some of the Indian chiefs were unwilling to acknowl- 
edge the validity of the treaty of Fort Harmar. The Little 
Turtle, a Miami chief, addressing General Wayne on the 18th 
of July, said, " You have told me that the present treaty should 
be founded upon that of Muskingum. I beg leave to observe 
to you, that that treaty was effected altogether by the Six 
Nations, who seduced some of our young men to attend it, to- 
gether with a few of the Chippewas, Wyandots, Delawares, 
Ottawas, and Pottawattamies. I beg leave to tell you that I 
am entirely ignorant of w^hat was done at that treaty."* 

On the 19th of July, Blue Jacket, a distinguished Shawanee 
chief, being in private conference with General Wayne, said, 
" Brother : I am very happy, that, notwithstanding all the diffi- 
culties and obstructions I had to encounter from my relations 
and others at Detroit, I have succeeded so far in bringing my 
people to you at this time. I expect intelligence this day of 
the approach of more of them. I have briefly acquainted you 
with these things. I repeat my assurances of the sincerity of 
my sentiments and resolution, to be, for the future, a steady 
friend to the United States." 

On the 21st of July, in council, Masass, a Chippewa chief, 
spoke to General Wayne, in behalf of the Ottawas, Chippewas, 
and Pottawattamies, who were called "the three fires." The 
following is an extract from his speech: " Elder Brother: When 
you yesterday read to us the treaty of Muskingum, I under- 

* Minutes and proceedings of the Treaty at Greenville Am. State Papers — Indian 

Affairs— p. 567. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 387 

stood you clearly : at that treaty we had not good interpreters, 
and we were left partly unacquainted with many particulars 
of.it. I was surprised when I heard your voice, through a 
good interpreter, say that we had received presents and com- 
pensation for those lands which were thereby ceded. I tell 
you, now, that we, the three fires, never were informed of it. 
If our uncles, the Wyandots, and grandfathers, the Delawares, 
have received such presents, they have kept them to them- 
selves. I always thought that we, the Ottawas, Chippewas, 
and Pottawattamies, were the true owners of those lands, but 
now I find that new masters have undertaken to dispose of 
them; so that, at this day, we do not know to whom they, of 
right, belong. We never received any compensation for them. 
I don't know how it is, but ever since that treaty, we have be- 
come objects of pity, and our fires have been retiring from this 
country. Now, elder brother, you see we are objects of com- 
passion; and have pity on our weakness and misfortunes; and, 
since you have purchased these lands, we cede them to you: 
they are yours. Perhaps, at a future day, your younger bro- 
thers may be made happy, by becoming your children, should 
you extend to us your paternal protection." 

Soon after Masass closed his remarks on the 21st, the Miami 
chief, Little Turtle, addressed to General Wayne the following 
speech: "I wish to ask of you and my brothers present, one 
question. I would be glad to know what lands have been ce- 
ded to you, as I am uninformed in this particular. I expect 
that the lands on the Wabash, and in this country, belong to 
me and my people. I now take the opportunity to inform my 
brothers of the United States, and others present, that there 
are men of sense and understanding among my people, as well 
as among theirs, and that these lands were disposed of without 
our knowledge or consent. I was yesterday surprised, when 
I heard from our grandfathers, the Delawares, that these lands 
had been ceded by the British to the Americans, when the for- 
mer were beaten by, and made peace with, the latter; because 
you had before told us that it was the Wyandots, Delawares, 



388 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatlamies, and Sauckejs, [Sacs,] 
who had made this cession." * 

On the 2'2d of July, in council at Greenville, Little Turtle 
spoke as follows: "Gekeral Wayne: I hope you will pay at- 
tention to what 1 now say to you. I wish to inform you where 
your younger brothers, the Miamies, live, and, also, the Potta- 
wattamies of St. Joseph's, together with the Wabash Indians. 
You have pointed out to us the boundary line between the In- 
dians and the United States, but now I take the liberty to in- 
form you that that line cuts off' from the Indians a large por- 
tion of country which has been enjoyed by my forefathers 
time immemorial, without molestation or dispute. The print 
of my ancestors' houses are every where to be seen in this 
portion. I was a little astonished at hearing you, and my bro- 
thers who are now present, telling each other what business 
you had transacted together heretofore at Muskingum, con- 
cerning this country. It is well knoAvn by all my brothers 
present, that my forefather kindled the first fire at Detroit; 
from thence he extended his lines to the head waters of Scioto; 
from thence, to its mouth ; from thence, down the Ohio, to the 
mouth of the Wabash, and from thence to Chicago, on Lake 
Michigan; at this place I first saw my elder brothers, the 
Shawanees. I have now informed you of the boundaries of 
the Miami nation, where the Great Spirit placed my forefather 
a long time ago, and charged him not to sell or part with his 
lands, but to preserve them for his posterity. This charge has 
been handed down to me. I was much surprised to find that 
my other brothers differed so much from me on this subject: 
for their conduct would lead one to suppose, that the Great 
Spirit, and their forefathers, had not given them the same 
charge that was given to me ; but, on the contrary, had direct- 
ed them to sell their lands to any white man who wore a hat, 
as soon as he should ask it of them. Now, elder brother, your 
younger brothers, the Miamies, have pointed out to you their 
country, and also to our brothers present. When I hear your 

♦ Minutes and proceedings of the Treaty at Greenville. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 3S9 

remarks and proposals on this subject, I will be ready to give 
you an answer. I came with an expectation of hearing you 
say good things, but I have not yet heard what I expected."* 

Tarke, or Crane, the chief of the Wyandots, then arose and 
made a speech, from which the following passages are copied: 
"Elder Brother: [General Wayne:] Now listen to us! The 
Great Spirit above has appointed this day for us to meet to- 
gether. I shall now deliver my sentiments to you, the fifteen 
fires. I view you lying in a gore of blood. It is me, an In- 
dian, who has caused it. Our tomahawk yet remains in your 
head. The English gave it to me to place there. Elder Bro- 
ther : I now take the tomahawk out of your head ; but, with so 
much care, that you shall not feel pain or injury. I will now 
tear a big tree up by the roots, and throw the hatchet into the 
cavity which they occupied, where the waters will wash it 
away where it can never be found. Now I have buried the 
hatchet, and I expect that none of my color will ever again 
find it out. I now- tell you, that no one in particular can justly 
claim this ground : it belongs, in common, to us all : no earthly 
being has an exclusive right to it. The Great Spirit above is 
the true and only owner of this soil, and he has given us all 
an equal right to it. * * * Brother : You have proposed to us 
to build our good work on the treaty of Muskingum: that 
treaty I have always considered as formed upon the fairest 
principles. You took pity on us Indians. You did not do as 
our fathers the British agreed you should. You might by that 
agreement have taken all our lands ; but you pitied us, and let 
us hold part. I always looked upon that treaty to be binding 
upon the United States and us Indians." f 

In council, on the 24th of July, General Wayne delivered 
the following speech, before the assembled Indians : " Brothers : 
The Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawattamies, open your ears, 
and be attentive: I have heard with very great pleasure, the 
sentiments delivered by Masass, as the unanimous voice of 
your three nations. When Mash-i-pi-nash-i-wish, your uncle, 

* Minutes and proceedings of tlie Treaty of Greenville. 
f Minutes and proceedings of tlic Treaty of Greenville. 



390 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

came to me, last winter, I took him to my bosom, and deliv- 
ered him the keys of all my forts and garrisons ; and my heart 
rejoices when I look around me, and see so many of your chiefs 
and warriors assembled here, in consequence of that happy 
meeting. It will give infinite pleasure to General Washington, 
the great chief of the fifteen fires, when I inform him you have 
thrown the hatchet with so strong an arm, that it has reached 
the middle, and sunk to the bottom of the great lake, and that it 
is now so covered with sand, that it can never again be found. 
The belt which was given to Wassung,* many years since, 
establishing a road between you and the fifteen fires, I now 
return, renewed, and cleared of all the brush and brambles 
with which time had scattered it. 

" Brothers, of the three great fires : You say that you 
thought you were the owners of the land that was sold to the 
fifteen fires, at the treaty of Muskingum ; but, you say, also, 
that you never received any compensation for those lands. It 
was always the wish and the intention of the fifteen fires that 
the true owners of those lands should receive a full compensa- 
tion for them: if you did not receive a due proportion of the 
goods, as original proprietors, it was not the fault of the United 
States: on the contrary, the United States have twice paid for 
those lands ; first at the treaty of [Fort] Mcintosh, ten years 
ago, and next at that of Muskingum, six years since. Younger 
brothers : Notwithstanding these lands have been twice paid 
for, by the fifteen fires, at the places I have mentioned, yet, 
such is the justice and liberality of the United States, that they 
will now, a third time, make compensation for them. [A large 
string to the three fires.] 

" Brothers, the Miamies : I have paid attention to what the 
Little Turtle said two days since, concerning the lands which 
he claims. He said his fathers first kindled the fire at Detroit, 
and stretched his line from thence to the head waters of Scioto; 
thence, down the same, to the Ohio ; thence, down that river 
to the mouth of tiie Wabash ; and from thence to Chicago, on 
the southwest end of Lake Michigan, and observed that his 

t A Chippewa Indian. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 391 

forefathers had enjoyed that country undisturbed, from time 
immemorial. Brothers : These boundaries enclose a very large 
space of country, indeed ; they embrace, if I mistake not, all 
the lands on which all the nations now present live, as well as 
those which have been ceded to the United States. The lands 
which have been ceded have, within these three days, been 
acknowledged by the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattamies, 
Wyandots, Delawares, and Shawanees. The Little Turtle 
says, the prints of his forefathers' houses are every where to 
be seen within these boundaries. Younger brother, it is true, 
these prints are to be observed; but, at the same time, we dis- 
cover the marks of French possessions throughout this country, 
which were established long before we were born. These have, 
since been in the occupancy of the British, who must, in their 
turn, relinquish them to the United States, when they, the 
French and Indians, will be all as one people. [A white string.] 
" I will point out to you a few places where I discover strong 
traces of these establishments; and, first of all, I find at Detroit 
a very strong print, where the fire was first kindled by your 
forefathers: next at Vincennes, on the Wabash; again at Mus- 
quiton, on the same river; a little higher up that stream, they 
are to be seen at Ouiatenon. I discover another strong trace 
at Chicago ; another on the St. Joseph's of Lake Michigan ; I 
have seen distinctly the prints of a French and a British post 
at the Miami villages, and of a British post at the foot of the 
Rapids, now in their possession ; prints, very conspicuous, are 
on the Great Miami, which were possessed by the French for- 
ty-five years ago ; and another trace is very distinctly to be 
seen at Sandusky. It appears to me, that, if the Great Spirit, 
as you say, charged your forefathers to preserve their lands 
entire for their posterity, they have paid very little regard to 
the sacred injunction: for I see they have parted with those 
lands to your fathers the French, and the English are now, or 
have been, in possession of them all; therefore, I think the 
charge urged against the Ottawas, Chippewas, and the other 
Indians, comes with a bad grace indeed, from the very people 
who perhaps set them the example. The English and French 



392 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

both wore hats ; and yet your forefathers sold them, at various 
times, portions of your lands: however, as I have ah'eady ob- 
served, you shall now receive from the United States further 
valuable compensation, for the lands you have ceded to them 
by former treaties. 

" Younger brothers : 1 will now inform you who it was who 
gave us these lands, in the first instance : it was your fathers 
the British, who did not discover that care for your interest 
which you ought to have experienced. This is the treaty of 
peace, made between the United States of America and Great 
Britain, twelve years ago, at the end of a long and bloody war, 
when the French and Americans proved too powerful for the 
British. On these terms they obtained peace. [Here part of 
the treaty of 1783 was read.] Here you perceive that all the 
country south of the great lakes has been given up to America ; 
but the United States never intended to take that advantage of 
you, which the British placed in their hands : they wish you to 
enjoy your just rights, without interruption, and to promote 
your happiness. The British stipulated to surrender to us all 
the posts on their side of the boundary agreed on. I told you 
some days ago, that treaties should ever be sacredly fulfilled 
by those who make them ; but the British, on their part, did • 
not find it convenient to relinquish those posts as soon as they 
should have done; however, they now find it so, and a precise 
period is accordingly fixed for their delivery. I have now in 
my hand the copy of a treaty, made eight months since, be- 
tween them and us, of which I will read you a little. [First 
and second articles of Mr. Jay's treaty read.] By this solemn 
agreement, they promise to retire from Michilimackinack, Fort 
St. Clair, Detroit, Niagara, and all other places on this side of 
the lakes, in ten moons from this period, and leave the same to 
full and quiet possession of the United States. 

"Brothers: All nations present, now listen to me! Having 
now explained those matters to you, and informed you of all 
things I judged necessary for your information, we have noth- 
ing to do but to bury the hatchet, and draw a veil over past 
misfortunes. As you have buried our dead with the concern 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 393 

of brothers, so I now collect the bones of your slain warriors, 
put them into a deep pit, which I have dug, and cover them 
carefully over with this large belt, there to remain undisturbed. 
I also dry the tears from your eyes, and wipe the blood from 
your bodies, with this soft, white Unen : no bloody traces will 
ever lead to the graves of your departed heroes ; with this I 
wipe all such entirely away. I deliver it to your uncle, the 
Wyandot, who will send it round amongst you. [A large belt 
with a white string attached.] 1 now take the hatchet out of 
your heads, and with a strong arm throw it into the centre of 
the srreat ocean, where no mortal can ever find it ; and I now 
deliver to you the wide and straight path to the fifteen fires, 
to be used by you and your posterity for ever. So long as you 
continue to follow this road, so long will you continue to be a 
happy people: you see it is straight and wide, and they will 
be bhnd indeed, who deviate from it. I place it also in your 
uncle's hands, that he may preserve it for you. [A large road 
belt.] I will, the day after to-morrow, show you the cessions 
you have made to the United States, and point out to you the 
lines which may, for the future, divide your lands from theirs; 
and, as you will have to-morrow to rest, I will order you a 
double allowance of drink ; because we have now buried the 
hatchet, and performed every necessary ceremony, to render 
propitious our renovated friendship." * 

In council with the Indians, on Monday, the 27th of July, 
General Wayne read the several articles of the proposed trea- 
ty ; t and, in explanation of the third article, spoke as follows : 
"Younger brothers: I wish you clearly to understand the ob- 
ject of these reservations : they are not intended to annoy, or 
impose the smallest degree of restraint on you, in the quiet en- 
joyment and full possession of your lands ; but to connect the 
settlements of the people of the United States, by rendering a 
passage from one to the other more practicable and convenient, 
and to supply the necessary wants of those who shall reside at 
them. They are intended, at the same time, to prove conve- 

* Minutes and proceedings of the Treaty of Greenville. 
t See Appendix F. 

50 



391 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

nient and advantaoeous to the different tribes of Indians resi- 
ding and hunting in their vicinity, as trading posts will be 
established at them, to the end that you may be furnished with 
goods in exchange for your skins and furs, at a reasonable rate. 
You will consider that the principal part of the now proposed 
reservations were made and ceded by the Indians, at an early 
period to the French : the French, by the treaty of peace of 
1763, ceded them to the British; who, by the treaty of 1783, 
ceded all the posts and possessions they then held, or to which 
»they had any claim, south of the great lakes, to the United 
States of America. The treaty of Muskinrrum embraced al- 
most all these reservations, and has been recognized by the 
representatives of all the nations now present, during the 
course of last winter, as the basis upon which this treaty 
should be founded." 

On the 28th of July, the Ottawas, Chippewas, and Potta- 
wattamies said that they w^ere united in opinion, and that they 
fully agreed to the articles of the treaty proposed by General 
Wayne. The Sun, a Pottawattamie chief, said to Wayne — 
" I shall now dispose of this belt. [A war belt.] I live too far 
from the lakes, and my arm is not long enough to throw it into 
the centre of any of them ; neither have I strength sufficient to 
tear up a big tree and bury it beneath its roots; but 1 will put 
it from me as elfectually, by surrendering it into your hands, 
as by doing with it any thing else. You may burn it if you 
please, or transform it into a necklace for some handsome 
squaw ; and thus change its original design and appearance, 
and prevent, for ever, its future recognition. It has caused us 
much misery, and I am happy in parting with it." 

On the 29th of July, Tarke, (or Crane,) chief of the Wyan- 
dots, presented to General Wayne a written address * from 
the Wyandots, Delawares, and Shawanees. The following is 
an extract from this address : " Brothers, of the fifteen united 
fires, listen ! You have requested of us all, to give you an 
account of the nation, or nations, the true owner of the soil 

♦ This address was signed by -J. Williams, agent aud commissioner for the chiefs and 
warriors of Sandusky." 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 395 

northwest of the Ohio, of the boundaries you have laid oft' two 
days ago. We will ask you a lew questions. Did you not, in 
the last war betw^een you and the British, divide the country? 
He gave one part to you, and the other })art he reserved for 
himself. We are well aajuainted that you are master of the 
lands, and you have now thought proper to return a large 
tract of the country to us again. Brothers: We leave the dis- 
posal of the coujitrt/ icholli/ in your breast. Make the bounda- 
ries that shall divide the lands between our nations, as we, the 
Wyandots, Delawares, and Shaw'anees, wish to know if we 
are entitled to any part of it. W^e wish to inform you of the 
impropriety of not fixing the bounds of every nation's rights: 
for, the manner it now lies in, would bring on disputes forever 
between the difterent tribes of Indians; and we wish to be by 
ourselves, that we may be acquainted how far we might extend 
our claims, that no one may intrude on us nor we upon them." 
After the letter from the Wyandots, Delaw^ares, and Shaw- 
anees was read, Little Turtle, the principal Miami chief, arose 
and spoke as follows: "Elder brother, and all you present:* 
I am n-oino; to sav a few words in the name of the Pottawatta- 
mies, Weas, and Kickapoos. It is well known to you all, that 
people are appointed on those occasions, to speak the senti- 
ments of others ; therefore am I appointed for those three 
nations. Elder brother: You told your younger brothers, 
when we first assembled, that peace was your object; you 
swore your interpreters before us, to the faithful discharge of 
their duty, and told them the Great Spirit would })unish them, 
did they not perform it. You told us that it was not you, but 
the President of the fifteen fires of the United States who spoke 
to us; that, whatever he should say should be firm and lasting; 
that it was impossible he should say what was not true. Rest 
assured that your younger brothers, the Miamies, Chippewas, 
Ottawas, Pottawattamies, Shawanees, Weas, Kickapoos, Pian- 

*Tlic numbers of tho ditTcient niitions of liulians present at, and parties to, the treaty 
of Greenville, were as follows : Wyandots, 180 — Delawares, 381 — Sliawanccs, 143— Otta- 
was, 45 — Chippewas, 46 — Pottawattamies, 240 — Miamies and Eel Rivers, 73 — Weas and 
Piankcshaws, 12 — Kickapoos and Kaskaskias, 10. Total, 1,130. — [Minutes and proceed- 
ings of the Treaty of tlrpenville. 



396 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

keshaws, and Kaskaskias, are well pleased with your words, 
and are persuaded of their sincerity. You have told us to con- 
sider of the boundaries you showed us; your younger brothers 
have done so, and now proceed to give you their answer. 

"Elder brother: Your younger brothers do not wish to hide 
their sentiments from you. I wish them to be the same with 
those of the Wyandots and Delawares. You have told us, that 
most of the reservations you proposed to us, belonged to our 
fathers, the French and the British. Permit your younger bro- 
thers to make a few observations on this subject. Elder bro- 
ther: We wish you to listen with attention to our words. 
You have told your younger brothers, that the British imposed 
falsehoods on us, when they said the United States wished to 
take our lands from us, and that the United States had no such 
design : You pointed out to us the boundary line, which cross- 
ed a little below Loromie's store, and struck Fort Recovery, 
and run from thence to the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Ken- 
tucky river. Elder brother: You have told us to speak our 
minds freely, and we now do it. This line takes in the greater 
and best part of your brother's hunting ground; therefore, 
your younger brothers are of opinion, you take too much of 
their lands away, and confine the hunting of our young men 
within limits too contracted. Your brothers, the Miamies, the 
proprietors of those lands, and all your younger brothers pres- 
ent, wish you to run the line as you mentioned, to Fort Re- 
covery, and to continue it along the road, from thence to Fort 
Hamilton, on the Great Miami river. This is what your bro- 
thers request you to do, and you may rest assured of the free 
navigation of that river, from thence to its mouth, for ever. 
Brother: Here is the road we wish to be the boundary between 
us. What lies to the east, we wish to be yours ; that to the 
west, we would desire to be ours. [Presenting a road belt.] 

"Elder brother: In speaking of the reservations, you say 
they are designed for the same purpose as those for which our 
fathers, the French and English, occupied them. Your young- 
er brothers now wish to make some observations on them. 
Elder brother : Listen to me with attention. You told us you 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 397 

discovered on the Great Miami, traces of an old fort. It was 
not a French fort, brother: it was a fort built by me. You 
perceived another at Loromie's: 'tis true a Frenchman once 
lived there for a year or two. The Miami villages were occu- 
pied as you remarked ; but, it was unknown to your younger 
brothers, until you told them, that we had sold land there to 
the French or English. I was much surprised to hear you say 
that it was my forefathers had set the example to the other 
Indians, in sellina; their lands. I will inform vou in what man- 
ner the French and English occupied those places. Elder bro- 
ther : These people were seen by our forefathers first at De- 
troit: afterwards we saw them at the Miami village — that 
glorious gate, which your younger brothers had the happiness 
to own, and through which all the good words of our chiefs 
had to pass, from the north to the south, and from the east to 
the west. Brothers, these people never told us they wished to 
purchase our lands from us. 

"Elder brother: I now give you the true sentiments of your 
younger brothers, the Miamies, with respect to the reservation 
at the Miami villages. We thank you for kindly contracting 
the limits you at first proposed. We wish you to take this 
six miles square on the side of the river where your fort now 
stands, as your younger brothers wish to inhabit that beloved 
spot again. You shall cut hay for your cattle wherever you 
please, and you shall never require in vain the assistance of 
your younger brothers at that place. Elder brother: The next 
place you pointed to was the Little River, and said you want- 
ed two miles square at that place. This is a request that our 
fathers, the French and British, never made us: it was always 
ours. This carrying place has heretofore proved, in a great 
degree, the subsistence of your younger brothers. That place 
has brought to us, in the course of one day, the amount of one 
hundred dollars. Let us both own this place, and enjoy in 
common the advantages it affords. You told us, at Chicago 
the French possessed a fort : we have never heard of it. We 
thank you for the trade you promised to open in our country ; 
and permit us to remark, that we wish our former traders may 



398 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

be continued, and mixed with yours. Elder brother : On the 
subject of hostages, I have only to observe, that I trust all my 
brothers present are of my opinion with regard to peace and 
our future happiness. I expect to be with you every day when 
you settle on your reservations ; and it will be impossible for 
me or my people to withhold from you a single prisoner; 
therefore, we don't know why any of us should remain here. 
These are the sentiments of your younger brothers present, on 
these particulars." 

On the 30th of July, Little Turtle, at the request of the 
Kickapoos, Kaskaskias, and Weas, spoke in council of the wil- 
lino-ness of those tribes to accede to the several articles of the 
proposed treaty. The Wea chief. Little Beaver, said to Gen- 
eral Wayne, " You have asked for a reservation at the Ouia- 
tenon ; I hope you will put a trader there on the spot formerly 
occupied by one. We would wish Captain Prior to be our 
trader. I can't give you any lands there, brother: I will lend 
you some as long as you want it. Elder brother : You have 
told us of a place possessed by the French, called Musquiton. 
We have lived at our village a long time ; it is surprising that 
we should never know any thing about it. The French lived 
at Vincennes, where they were permitted to settle by my fore- 
fathers, who told them they should have a small quantity of 
land for the cattle, &c. on the east, but none on the west side 
of the Wabash." 

Masass, a Chippew^a chief, in the course of a short speech, 
said, " Elder brother : I have listened to all your words, and to 
those of my brothers. It would be very wrong in me to raise 
objections lo what has been done, as you have explained to us 
your treaty with Great Britain. You say at the fort of De- 
troit you intend to take a piece of land six miles deep from the 
river Rosine to Lake St. Clair. I now ask you, what is to be- 
come of our brothers, the French, who live on this land ? We 
look on them as our brothers and friends, who treated us well 
when abused by the British. We wish to know your senti- 
ments on the subject." 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 399 

When Masass concluded his speech, General Wayne rose, 
and spoke as follows : 

" Younger brothers : All of you, listen with attention ! I shall 
now reply to what was said yesterday by the Wyandots. I 
will then answer the observations of the Little Turtle, made in 
behalf of the Miamies and Wabash tribes. Younger brothers, 
the Wyandots, Delawares, and Shawanees: I am pleased to 
hear you say, with one voice, for the second time, that I have 
done the greatest justice to you in dividing the lands of the 
United States from those of the Indian nations, by the boun- 
dary line which I have proposed. You request me to fix the 
boundaries that shall divide the lands between the respective 
tribes of Indians now present. Younger brothers : A moment's 
reflection will show you the impropriety, as well as impossi- 
bihty, of my acting in this business. You, Indians, best know 
your respective boundaries. I particularly recommend to all 
you nations present, to continue friendly and just to each oth- 
er : let no nation, or nations, invade, molest, or disturb, any 
other nation, or nations, in the hunting grounds they have 
heretofore been accustomed to live and hunt upon, within the 
boundary which shall now be agreed on ; and, above all, I en- 
join that no injury be offered to any nation, or nations, in con- 
sequence of the part any, or either of them, may have pursued, 
to establish a permanent and happy peace with the United 
States of America. Younger brothers, the Wyandots, and 
other Indians, of Sandusky, make your hearts and minds easy. 
Be assured that, as soon as circumstances will permit, a fort 
shall be established on the reserved lands, near the entrance 
of Sandusky Lake, which will always afford you protection 
against the common enemy, should any such presume to dis- 
turb our peace and mutual friendship. 

" Younger brothers, the Miamies : I have listened to you 
with attention; and have heard your observations upon the 
general boundary line proposed by me, as well as upon the 
proposed reservations. If my ears did not deceive me, I have 
heard all the other nations give their assent to the general 
boundary line, and to the reservations generally ; 1, therefore. 



400 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

address you, the Miamies. You say that the general boundary 
line, as proposed by me, will take away some of your best 
hunting grounds ; and propose to alter it, and run it from Fort 
Recovery, through the centre of this place, and along the road 
to the Miami river, opposite Fort Hamilton. Younger bro- 
thers : This would be a very crooked, as well as a very difficult 
line to follow : because, there are several roads between this 
and Fort Hamilton, some of them several miles apart, which 
might certainly be productive of unpleasant mistakes and dif- 
ferences : that which I propose will be free from all difficulty 
and uncertainty. You all know Fort Recovery, as well as the 
mouth of Kentucky river : a straight line, drawn from one to 
the other, will never vary : they are two points which will 
ever be remembered, not only by all present, but by our chil- 
dren's children, to the end of time : nor will this line prevent 
your hunters, or young men, in the smallest degree, from pur- 
suing all the advantages which the chase affords ; because, by 
the seventh article, the United States of America grant liberty 
to all the Indian tribes to hunt within the territory ceded to 
the United States, without hindrance or molestation, so long 
as they demean themselves peaceably, and offer no injury to 
the people of the United States. 

"I find there is some objection to the reservation at Fort 
Wayne. The Little Turtle observes, he never heard of any 
cessions made at that place to the French. I have traced the 
lines of two forts at that point: one stood near the junction of 
the St. Josephs with the St. Mary's, and the other not far re- 
moved on the St. Mary's; and it is ever an established rule, 
among Europeans, to reserve as much ground around their 
forts "as their cannon can command: this is a rule as well 
known as any other fact. Objection has also been made res- 
pecting the portage between Fort Wayne and the Little river: 
and the reasons produced, are, that that road has been to the 
Miamies a source of wealth ; that it has, heretofore, produced 
them one hundred dollars per day. It may be so ; but let us 
enquire who, in fact, paid this heavy contribution. It is true 
the traders bore it in the first instance; but thev laid it on 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 401 

their goods, and the Indians, of the Wabash, really and finally 
paid it : therefore, it is the Little Beaver, the Soldier, the Sun, 
and their tribes who have actually been so highly taxed. The 
United States will always be their carriers, to, and from, their 
different posts. Why should the United States pay the large 
sum of eight thousand dollars, annually, if they were not to 
enjoy the privilege of open roads to, and from, their reserva- 
tions ? And this sum of money the United States agree to pay 
for this and other considerations. And the share, which the 
Miamies will receive, of this annuity, shall be one thousand 
dollars. I will then enquire, of all the nations present, whether 
the United States are not acting the part of a tender father, to 
them and their children, in thus providing for them, not only 
at present, but for ever? The Miamies shall be at liberty, as 
usual, to employ themselves for private traders, whenever their 
assistance may be required; and those people who have lived 
at that glorious gate, the Miami villages, may now rekindle 
their fires at that favorite spot ; and henceforth, as in their 
happiest days, be at full liberty to receive from, and send to, 
all quarters, the speeches of their chiefs as usual ; and here is 
the road the Miamies will remember. [A road belt.] 

"Now, all ye chiefs and warriors, of every nation present, 
open your ears that you may clearly hear the articles of the 
treaty, now in my hand, again read, and, a second time ex- 
plained to you, that we may proceed to have them engrossed 
on parchment, which may preserve them for ever." 

The articles of the treaty were read a second time and ex- 
plained by General Wayne, who said — 

On the article respecting hostages : " I did not expect any 
objections to this particular; for I see no reason why you 
should hesitate at leaving ten of your people with me, until 
the return of our people from among you ; the promise of a 
mutual exchange of prisoners, made last winter, when we met 
at this place, you have not performed on your part. I have 
kept none of your flesh and blood ; nor would General Wash- 
ington, the great chief of the United States suffer me so to do: 

51 



402 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

the period will be short, and those who remain shall be kindly 
treated." 

On the Ouiatenon reservation: " The Little Beaver has asked 
for Captain Prior to reside, as a trader, at Ouiatenon: he shall 
reside at that place ; but Captain Prior is a warrior, not a tra- 
der. He shall have a few warriors with him, to protect the 
trade and the Indians in that quarter." 

On the reservation at Detroit : " Masass has asked, what 
will become of the French? The United States consider the 
French and themselves as one people; and it is partly for 
them and their accommodation, this reservation is made, 
whenever they become citizens thereof, as well as for the 
people of the fifteen fires." 

On the gift of the Isle de Bois Blanc: " In addition to the ces- 
sions which the three fires have made with such cheerfulness, 
of the reservations in their country, Mash-i-pi-nash-i-wish has 
in their name, made a voluntary gift to the United States, of 
the Isle de Bois Blanc, in Lake Michigan. The fifteen fires 
accept of this unasked for grant from the Ottawas, Chippewas, 
and Pottawattamies, according to their intentions; and will 
always view it as an unequivocal mark of their sincere friend- 
ship." 

On trade : " The Little Turtle yesterd&y expressed a wish, 
that some of iheir former traders might be continued among 
them as a part of the number to be licensed by the United 
States. This is very fair and reasonable, and a certain number 
will be licensed accordingly, when properly recommended as 
good and honest men." 

General Wayne then said, " Brothers : All you nations now 
present, listen! You now have had, a second time, the pro- 
posed articles of treaty read and explained to you. It is now 
time for the negotiation to draw to a conclusion. I shall there- 
fore ask each nation individually, if they approve of, and are 
prepared to sign, those articles, in their present form, that they 
may be immediately engrossed for that purpose. I shall begin 
with the Chippewas, who, with the others who approbate the - 
measure, will signify their assent. You, Chippewas, do you 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 403 

approve of these articles of treaty, and are you prepared to 
sign them? [A unanimous answer — yes.] You, Ottawas, 
do you agree? [A unanimous answer — yes.] You, Potta- 
wattamies? [A unanimous answer — yes.] You, Wyandots, 
do you agree? [A unanimous answer — yes.] You, Dela- 
wares? [A unanimous answer — yes,] You, Siiawanees ? 
[A unanimous answer — yes.] You, Miamies, do you agree? 
[A unanimous answer — yes.] You, Weas? [A unanimous 
answer — yes.] And you, Kickapoos, do you agree? [A unan- 
imous answer — yes.] The treaty shall be engrossed; and, as 
it will require two or three days to do it properly, on parch- 
ment, we will now part, to meet on the 2d of August: in the 
interim, we will eat, drink, and rejoice, and thank the Great 
Spirit for the happy stage this good work has arrived at." 

On the 3d of August, 1795, the treaty was signed by the 
sachems, chiefs, and principal men, of the Indian nations who 
inhabited the territory of the United States northwest of the 
river Ohio; and to each nation, respectively, a copy of the 
treaty, on paper, was delivered. A large quantity of goods, 
and many small ornaments, were then distributed among the 
Indians. On the 10th of August, in council. General Wayne, 
at the close of a short speech, said, " I now fervently pray to 
the Great Spirit, that the peace now established may be perma- 
nent, and that it may hold us together in the bonds of friend- 
ship, until time shall be no more. I also pray that the Great 
Spirit above may enlighten your minds, and open your eyes to 
your true happiness, that your children may learn to cultivate 
the earth, and enjoy the fruits of peace and industry. As it is 
probable, my children, that we shall not soon meet again in 
public council, I take this opportunity of bidding you all an 
affectionate farewell, and of wishing you a safe and happy re- 
turn to your respective homes and families." 

Thus the treaty of Greenville was concluded in a manner 
which was satisfactory to the government of the United States 
and acceptable to the Indian tribes who inhabited the territory 
of the United States northwest of the river Ohio. Information 
of the treaty, and of the pacific disposition of the Indians, was 



404 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

soon spread among the people of the eastern states of the 
American confederacy; and a full and constant tide of emi- 
gration began to flow from those states into the northwestern 
territory. Of the emigrants, some settled in the Western Re- 
serve of Connecticut ; some selected favorite sites on the banks 
of the Ohio ; the rich valleys of the rivers Scioto and Muskin- 
gum were settled by others ; and many, attracted by the fame 
of the fertile region which lies between the two Miami rivers, 
settled at various eligible places within the boundaries of 
Symmes' Purchase. 

On the 29th day of May, 1795, Governor St. Clair and two 
judges of the northwestern territory, (John Cleves Symmes 
and George Turner,) met at Cincinnati, in their Legislative 
capacity. In the course of their session, which ended on the 
25th of August, 1795, they adopted and made thirty-eight 
laws, under the following titles, to wit : 

I. — A law subjecting real estate to execution for debt. — 
[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] 

II. — A law allowing domestic attachments. -[Adopted from 
the Pennsylvania code.] 

III. — A law regulating domestic attachments. — [Adopted 
from the Pennsylvania code.] 

IV. — A law for the easy and speedy recovery of small debts. 
— [Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] 

V. — A law concerning defalcation. — [Adopted from the 
Pennsylvania code.] 

VI. — A law for the trial and punishment of larceny, under 
a dollar and a half. — [Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] 
The first section of this law contains the following declaration : 
" If any person shall be convicted, either by his or her own 
confession, or the testimony of credible evidence, before any 
two justices of the peace, in their respective counties, of hav- 
ing feloniously stolen any money, goods, or chattels, (the same 
being under the value of five shillings, now equal to one hun- 
dred and fifty cents,) the offender shall have judgment, to be 
immediately and publicly whipped, upon his or her bare back, 
not exceeding fifteen lashes ; or be fined in any sum, at the 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 405 

discretion of the said justices, not exceeding three dollars; and, 
if able to make restitution, besides, to the party wronged ; pay- 
ing also the charges of prosecution and whipping : or, other- 
wise, shall be sent to the workhouse, to be kept at hard labor; 
and, for want of such workhouse, to be committed to prison, 
for such charges, for a term not exceeding twelve days." 

VII. — A law to prevent unnecessary delays in causes, after 
issue joined. — [Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] 

VIII. — A law establishing courts of judicature. — [Adopted 
from the Pennsylvania code.] 

IX. — A law for the limitation of actions. — [Adopted from 
the Pennsylvania code.] 

X. — A law for the relief of persons conscientiously scrupu- 
lous to take an oath in the common form. — [Adopted from the 
Pennsylvania code.] 

XL — A law for the recovery of fines and forfeitures, and 
directing how the same are to be estreated. — [Adopted from 
the Pennsylvania code.] 

XII. — A law ascertaining and regulating the fees of the 
several officers and persons therein named. — [Adopted from 
the New York and Pennsylvania codes.] 

XIII. — A law for estabUshing orphans' courts. — [Adopted 
from the Pennsylvania code.] 

XIV. — A law for the settlement of intestates' estates. — 
[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] 

XV. — A law to license and regulate taverns. — [Adopted 
from the Pennsylvania code.] 

XVI. — A law establishing the recorder's office. — [Adopted 
from the Pennsylvania code.] 

XVII. — A law for raising county rates and levies. — [Found- 
ed on, and adopted from, the Pennsylvania code.] 

XVIII. — A law for the relief of the poor. — [Adopted from 
the Pennsylvania code.] 

XIX. — A law concerning the probate of Avills, written or 
nuncupative. — [Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] 

XX. — A law regulating enclosures. — [Adopted from the 
Pennsylvania code.] 



406 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

XXI. — A law as to the order of paying debts of persons 
deceased. — [Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] 

XXII. — A law concerning trespassing animals. — [Adopted 
from the Pennsylvania code.] 

XXIII. — A law directing how husband and wife may con- 
vey their estates. — [Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] 

XXIV. — A law for the speedy assignment of dower. — 
[Adopted from the Massachusetts code.] 

XXV. — A law giving remedies in equity, in certain cases. 

— [Adopted from the Massachusetts code.] 

XXVI. • — A law against forcible entry and detainer. — 
[Adopted from the Massachusetts code.] 

XXVII. — A law annulling the distinction between petit 
treason and murder. — [Adopted from the Massachusetts code.] 

XXVIII. — A law declaring what laws shall be in force. — 
[Adopted from the Virginia code.] This law was comprised 
in the following words : " The common law of England, all 
statutes or acts of the British Parliament made in aid of the 
common law, prior to the fourth year of the reign of King 
James the First (and which are of a general nature, not local 
to that kingdom,) and also the several laws in force in this 
Territory, shall be the rule of decision, and shall be considered 
as of full force, until repealed by Legislative authority, or dis- 
approved of by Congress." 

XXIX. — A law to prevent trespassing by cutting of timber. 

— [Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] 

XXX. — A law repealing certain laws and acts, and parts of 
laws and acts. 

XXXI. — A law respecting divorces. — [Adopted from the 
Massachusetts code.] 

XXXII. — A law for the partition of lands. — [Adopted 
from the New York code.] 

XXXIII. — A law allowing foreign attachments. — [Adopted 
from the New Jersey code.] 

XXXIV. — A law concerning the duty and power of coro- 
ners. — [Adopted from the Massachusetts code.] 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 407 

XXXV. — A law for continuing suits in the general and 
circuit courts. — [Adopted from the Virginia code.] 

XXXVI. — A law to suppress gaming. — [Adopted from the 
Virginia code.] 

XXXVII. — A law as to proceedings in ejectment, distress 
for rent, and tenants at will holding over. — [Adopted from 
the Pennsylvania code.] 

XXXVIII. — A law limiting imprisonment for debt, and sub- 
jecting certain debtors and delinquents to servitude. — [Adopted 
from the Pennsylvania code.] This law contained the follow- 
ing provisions : " No person shall be kept in prison, for debt or 
fines, longer than the second day of the sessions next after his 
or her commitment ; unless the plaintiff shall make it appear, 
that the person imprisoned hath some estate that he will not 
disclose : then, and in every such case, the court shall examine 
all persons suspected to be privy to the concealment of such 
estate; and if no sufficient estate be found, the debtor shall 
make satisfaction, by personal and reasonable servitude, ac- 
cording to the judgment of the court where such action is 
tried (but only if the plaintiff require it) not exceeding seven 
years, where such debtor is unmarried, and under the age of 
forty years ; unless it be the request of the debtor, who may 
be above that age : but if the debtor be married, and under the 
age of thirty-six, the servitude shall be for five years only; and 
with which the married man, upwards of thirty-six shall be 
privileged, if it be his request. Should the plaintiff refuse to 
accept such satisfaction according to the judgment of the court, 
as aforesaid, then the prisoner shall be discharged in open court, 
and the plaintiff be forever barred from any further or other 
action for the same debt." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

At San Lorenzo el Real, on the 27th of October, 1795, 
Thomas Pinckney, Envoy Extraordinary from the United 
States to the court of Spain, and the Duke of Alcudia, Prince 
of Peace, &c. concluded a treaty of friendship, limits and nav- 
igation, between the United States of America and the King 
of Spain. The second and the fourth articles of this treaty 
here follow: 

" Article 2. To prevent all disputes on the subject of the 
boundaries which separate the territories of the two high con- 
tracting parties, it is hereby declared and agreed as follows, 
to wit: The southern boundary of the United States, which 
divides their territories from the Spanish colonies of East and 
West Florida, shall be designated by a line beginning on the 
river Mississippi, at the northernmost part of the thirty-first 
degree of latitude north of the equator, which from thence 
shall be drawn due east to the middle of the river Apalachi- 
cola, or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof, to its 
junction with the Flint; thence straight to the head of St. 
Mary's river, and thence, down the middle thereof, to the 
Atlantic ocean. And it is agreed, that if there should be any 
troops, garrisons, or settlements of either party, in the terri- 
tory of the other, according to the above mentioned bounda- 
ries, they shall be withdrawn from the said territory within 
the term of six months after the ratification of this treaty, or 
sooner if it be possible; and that they shall be permitted to 
take with them all the goods and effects which they possess." 

"Article 4. It is likewise agreed, that the western boundary 
of the United States, which separates them from the Spanish 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 409 

colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the channel, or bed of 
the river Mississippi, from the northern boundary of the said 
stales to the completion of the thirty-first degree of latitude 
north of the equator. And His Catholic Majesty has likewise 
agreed, that the navigation of the said river, in its whole 
breadth, from its source to the ocean, shall be free only to his 
subjects and the citizens of the United States, unless he should 
extend this privilege to the subjects of other powers by special 
convention." 

This treaty between the United Slates of America and the 
kingdom of Spain, was ratified on the 3d of March, 1796 ; and 
on the 24th of May, in the same year, Andrew ElUcott was 
appointed commissioner, and Thomas Freeman surveyor, on 
the part of the United States, for the purpose of running the 
boundary line mentioned in the second article of the treaty. 

Before the close of the month of July, 1796, the British gar- 
risons, with their arms, artillery, and stores, were withdrawn 
from the posts within the boundaries of the United States 
northwest of the river Ohio. A detachment of American 
troops, consisting of sixty-five men, under the command of 
Captain Moses Porter, took possession of the evacuated fort 
at Detroit, on or about the ISth of July, 1796. In Septem- 
ber, 1796, Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the northwestern 
territory, proceeded to Detroit, erected the county of Wayne, 
and established the civil authority of the United States in that 
quarter. 

The ratification of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navi- 
gation, between the United States and Great Britain, was re- 
garded by the government of France as an alteration and sus- 
pension of the treaty which was made between France and 
the United States, in 1778; and, in July, 1796, the French 
Executive Directory charged the government of the United 
States with a breach of friendship, an abandonment of neu- 
trality, and a violation of tacit engagements.* A treaty of alli- 
ance, offensive and defensive, was concluded between France 



* Am. State Papers — Foreign Relations, i. 730. 

52 



410 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

and Spain, on the I9th of August, 1796; and, on the 11th of 
December, 1796, James Monroe, American minister at Paris, 
was informed by Ch. de la Croix, French minister of Foreign 
Affairs, that the Executive Directory of France " would no 
longer recognise nor receive a minister plenipotentiary from 
the United States, until after a reparation of the grievances 
demanded of the American government." * 

In the course of the years of 1795, 1796, and 1797, before 
the Spanish posts on the eastern side of the Mississippi were 
given up to the United States, some efforts Avere made by the 
agents of France and Spain, to induce the people of the west- 
ern country to separate themselves from the American union, 
and to establish, in conjunction with Spain and France, an 
independent government on the western side of the Allegheny 
mountains. After the death of Wayne, f General James Wil- 
kinson obtained the command of the United States troops in 
the west ; and, in the month of June, 1797, the Baron de Car- 
ondelet, Governor General of Louisiana, sent one of his agents, 
Thomas Power, to General Wilkinson, with a letter in which 
Wilkinson was requested to delay the march of the American 
troops for the posts on the Mississippi, until the adjustment of 
certain questions which were then pending between the Uni- 
ted States and the government of Spain. The real object of 
the mission of Thomas Power was to ascertain the opinions 
and sentiments of the western people on the subject of a sepa- 
ration of the Union. The following passages are extracted 
from the secret instructions which were given to Power by 
the Baron de Carondelet, on the 26th of May, 1797: 

" On your journey, you will give to understand adroitly, to 
those persons to whom you have an opportunity of speaking, 
that the delivery of the posts which the Spaniards occupy on 
the Mississippi, to the troops of the United States, is directly 
opposed to the interest of those of the west, who, as they must 

* Am. State Papers— Foreign Relations, i. 746. 

t Wayne died at Presque Isle, in December, 1796. He was buried on the southern 
shore of Lake Erie. In 1809 his remains were removed to his native county, by his son, 
Isaac Wayne. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 411 

one day separate from the Atlantic states, would find theni' 
selves without any communication with lower Louisiana, from 
whence they ought to expect to receive powerful succors in 
artillery, arms, ammunition, and money, either publicly or se- 
cretly, as soon as ever the western states should determine on 
a separation, which must insure their prosperity and their 
independence ; that, for this reason. Congress is resolved on 
risking every thing to take those posts from Spain ; and that it 
would be forging fetters for themselves, to furnish it with mili- 
tia and means, which it can only find in the western states. 
These same reasons, diftlised abroad by means of the public 
papers, might make the strongest impressions on the people, 
and induce them to throw oflf the yoke of the Atlantic states. 
* * * If a hundred thousand dollars distributed in Kentucky 
would cause it to rise in insurrection, I am very certain, that 
the minister, in the present circumstances, would sacrifice 
them with pleasure ; and you may, without exposing yourself 
too much, promise them to those who enjoy the confidence of 
the people, with another equal sum to arm them, in case of 
necessity, and twenty pieces of field artillery. 

" You will arrive without danger, as bearer of a despatch 
for the General, where the army may be, whose force, discip- 
line, and disposition, you will examine with care; and you will 
endeavor to discover, with your natural penetration, the Gene- 
ral's disposition. I doubt that a person of his disposition would 
prefer, through vanity, the advantages of commanding the army 
of the Atlantic states, to that of being the founder, the libera- 
tor, in fine, the Washington of the western states : his part is 
as brilhant as it is easy ; all eyes are drawn towards him ; he 
possesses the confidence of his fellow citizens, and of the Ken- 
tucky volunteers: at the slightest movement, the people will 
name him the General of the new republic; his reputation will 
raise an army for him, and Spain as well as France will fur- 
nish him the means of paying it. On taking Fort Massac, we 
will send him instantly arms and artillery; and Spain, limiting 
herself to the possession of the forts of Natchez and Walnut 
Hills, as far as fort Confederation, will cede to the western 



412 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

states all the eastern bank to the Ohio, which will form a very 
extensive and powerful republic, connected by its situation and 
by its interest, with Spain, and in concert with it, will force 
the savages to become a party to it, and to confound them- 
selves in time with its citizens. 

" The public are discontented with the new taxes ; Spain 
and France are enraged at the connection of the United States 
with England ; the army is weak and devoted to Wilkinson ; 
the threats of Congress authorize me to succor, on the spot 
and openly, the western states: money will not then be want- 
ing to me, for I shall send without delay, a ship to Vera Cruz 
in search of it, as well as of ammunition: nothing more will 
consequently be required, but an instant of firmness and reso- 
lution to make the people of the west perfectly happy. If they 
suffer this instant to escape them, and we are forced to deliver 
up the posts, Kentucky and Tennessee, surrounded by the said 
posts, and without communication with Lower Louisiana, will 
ever remain under the oppression of the Atlantic states." * 

The emissary. Power, passed through Tennessee, Kentucky, 
and the northwestern territory, as far as Detroit, where, late 
in the month of August, he found General Wilkinson. A letter 
dated "Detroit, September 4, 1797," from Wilkinson to Cap- 
tain Robert Buntin, of Vincennes, contains the following pas- 
sages : " I fear the Spaniards will oblige us to go to blows with 
them — in which case you know they must go to the wall. I 
shall pursue every means in my power to preserve to our coun- 
try the blessings of peace; but shall make every preparation 
for war, and will be guarded against surprise. Mr. Power 
delivered me a letter from the Baron Carondelet, in which he 
states a variety of frivolous reasons for not dehvering the posts, 
and begs that no more troops may be sent down the Missis- 
sippi, before certain adjustments take place between our res- 
pective courts. I have put aside all his exceptions, and have 
called on him in the most solemn manner to fulfil the treaty, 
as he regards the interest or honor of his master; and have 



* Am. State Papers — Miscellaneous, ii. 103. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 413 

hopes that my letter may produce some change in the conduct 
of the Dons. * * Although Mr. Power has brought me this let- 
ter, it is possible it might be a mask to other purposes : I have, 
therefore, for his accommodaticm and safety put him in care of 
Captain Shaumburgh, who will see him safe to New Madrid, 
by the most direct route. I pray you to continue your vigi- 
lance, and give me all the information in your power. I am 
just from Michilimackinack, having visited that post to see it 
put in a state of defence." 

On the 5th of December, 1797, Power wrote to Don Manuel 
Gayoso, Spanish Governor at Natchez, a letter from which the 
following is an extract : " Having informed him [General Wil- 
kinson] of the proposals of the Baron [de Carondelet,] he pro- 
ceeded to tell me that it was a chimerical project, which it 
was impossible to execute: that the inhabitants of the western 
states, having obtained by treaty all they desired, would not 
wish to form any other political or commercial alliances ; and 
that they had no motive for separating themselves from the 
interests of the other states of the union, even if France and 
Spain should make them the most advantageous offers ; that the 
fermentation which existed four years back is now appeased ; 
that the depredations and vexations which American commerce 
suffered from the French privateers had inspired them with an 
implacable hatred for their nation ; that some of the Kentuck- 
ians had proposed to him to raise three thousand men to invade 
Louisiana, in case a war should be declared between the Uni- 
ted States and Spain; that the latter had no other course to 
pursue, under Ihe present circumstances, but to comply fully 
with the treaty." In the same letter, Power said, "A great 
portion of the principal characters in Kentucky, Cumberland, 
[Tennessee,] and the Northwest Territory have been insti- 
gators of the expedition of Genet and Clark against this pro- 
vince ; consequently they are enemies of those who are [en- 
emies] of the French; more than one half of the rest are 
those who take the greatest interest in a more intimate union 
of the western states with us ; and many of those who remain, 
(as they are not desirous of gaining conquests over Spain, but 



414 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

only to preserve the limits and privileges marked in the treaty) 
will do what they can in order to avoid hostilities."* 

In a letter, written at Cincinnati, under the date of " June 
3d, 1797," and addressed to Timothy Pickering, American Se- 
cretary of State, Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the North- 
western Territory, said — "I seize the occasion to transcribe 
for you some paragraphs from a western letter. The Span- 
iards are reinforcing their upper posts on the Mississippi. Gen- 
eral Howard, an Irishman, in quality of commander-in-chief, 
with upwards of three hundred men, is arrived at St. Louis, 
and employed in erecting very formidable works. It likewise 
appears, through various channels, that they are inviting a 
great number of the Indians of the Territory to cross the Mis- 
sissippi; and, for this express purpose, Mr. Lorromie, an officer 
in the pay of the crown, made a tour through all this country 
last fall ; since which time several Indians have been sent on 
the same errand, and generally furnished with plenty of cash 
to defray their expenses. A large party of Delawares passed 
down on White River, about the 6th of May, on their way to 
the Spanish side, bearing the national flag of Spain, some of 
them from St. Louis. They [the Spaniards] have above the 
mouth of the Ohio, on the Mississippi, several row galleys with 
cannon." 

The refusal of the French Republic to receive a minister 
from the United States — the angry decrees of the Executive 
Directory of France — the depredations which were committed 
by vessels of that nation on American commerce — and the at- 
tempts which were made by Spain and its emissaries to sever 
the Union! finally induced the American Government, in 1798, 
to adopt and enforce various measures of defence and retalia- 
tion. Among these measures the most important were — 

* Am. State Papers — Miscellaneous, ii. 108. 
t Vide History of Kentucky, by H. Marshall, i. 258, 283, 316 : ii. 219, 250. — History of 
Louisiana, by Barbe Marbois, 152, 162.— Writings of Washington, (edited by Jared 
Sparks,) x. 355, 356, 360, 387: xii, 96. — Life of Washington, by John Marshall, ii. 250, 
257, 261, 270, 332, 334, 393, 410: Wilkinson's Memoirs : — Americaii^State Papers, Mis- 
cellaneous, i. from p. 704 to p. 713, and from p. 922 to p. 939 : ii. fromrj). 79 to p. 127. — 
American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. 1 : vol. ii. from p. 14 to p. 103. 



HISTORICAL iNOTES. 415 

First : — An act authorizing tiie President of the United 
States to raise a provisional army. — Approved by the President, 
John Adams,* on the 2Sth of May, 1798. 

Second: — An act of Congress to suspend the commercial 
intercourse between the United States and France and the de- 
pendencies thereof. — Approved on the 13th of June, 1798. 

Third: — An act to authorise the defence of the merchant 
vessels of the United States against French depredations. — Ap- 
proved on the 25th of June, 1798. 

Fourth: — An act concerning alien enemies. — Approved on 
the 25th of June, 1798. [The first section of this law was com- 
prised in the words following : — Be it enacted by the Senate and 
House of Representatives of the United States of America in 
Congress Assembled, That it shall be lawful for the President 
of the United States at any time during the continuance of this 
act,t to order all such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the 
peace and safety of the United States, or shall have reasonable 
grounds to suspect are concerned in any treasonable or secret 
machinations against the government thereof, to depart out of 
the territory of the United States, within such time as shall be 
expressed in such order; which order shall be served on such 
alien by delivering him a copy thereof, or leaving the same at 
his usual abode, and returned to the office of the Secretary of 
State, by the Marshal or other person to whom the same shall 
be directed. And in case any aUen so ordered to depart, shall 
be found at large within the United States after the time lim- 
ited in such order for his departure, and not having obtained a 
license from the President to reside therein, or having obtained 
such license, shall not have conformed thereto, every such alien 
shall, on conviction thereof, be imprisoned for a term not ex- 
ceeding three years, and shall never after be admitted to be- 
come a citizen of the United States. Provided always, and be 
it further enacted, That if any alien so ordered to depart, shall 
prove, to the satisfaction of the President, by evidence to be 

* John Adams, second President of the United States, was inaugurated on the 4th of 
March, 1797. 

tThc act was limited to tlie time of two years from and after its passage. 



416 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

taken before such person or persons as the President shall di- 
rect, who are for that purpose hereby authorized to administer 
oaths, that no injury or danger to the United States will arise 
from suffering such alien to reside therein, the President may 
grant a license to such alien to remain within the United States, 
for such time as he shall judge proper, and at such place as he 
shall designate. And the President may also require of such 
alien to enter into a bond to the United States, in such penal 
sum as he may direct, with one or more sufficient sureties, to 
the satisfaction of the person authorized by the President to 
take the same, conditioned for the good behavior of such alien 
during his residence in the United States, and not violating his 
license, Avhich license the President may revoke whenever he 
shall think proper."] * . 

Fifth : — An act in addition to the act entitled " An act for 
the punishment of certain crimes against the United States." — 
Approved on the 14th of July, 1798. Here follows the 2d sec- 
tion of this act: — " And he it further enacted. That if any person 
shall write, print, utter, or pubhsh; or shall cause or procure to 
be written, printed, uttered, or published, or shall, knowingly 
and willingly, assist in waiting, printing, uttering, or publishing, 
any false, scandalous, and malicious writing or writings, against 
the government of the United States, or either house of the Con- 
gress of the United States, or the President of the United States, 
with intent to defame the said government, or either house of 
the said Congress, or the President, or to bring them, or either 
of them, into contempt or disrepute; or to excite against them, 
or either or any of them, the hatred of the good people of the 
United States, or to stir up sedition within the United States ; 
or to excite any unlawful combinations therein, for opposing or 
resisting any law of the United States, or any act of the Presi- 
dent of the United States, done in pursuance of any such law, 
or of the powers in him vested by the constitution of the United 
States ; or to resist, oppose, or defeat, any such law or act ; or 
to aid, encourage, or abet, any hostile design of any foreign na- 
tion against the United States, their people, or government, 

* Laws of the United Sates, iii- 66. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 417 

then such person, being thereof convicted before any court of 
the United States having jurisdiction thereof, shall be punished, 
by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, and by impri- 
sonment not exceeding two years."* 

On the 2d of July, 179S, President Adams sent to the Sen- 
ate of the United States a communication, in which he nomi- 
nated the venerable Ex-President, George Washington, to the 
office of " Lieutenant General and commander-in-chief of the 
armies raised or to be raised for the service of the United 
States." The Senate confirmed this nomination on the 3d of 
July: on the 13th of the same month, Washington accepted the 
new commission and addressed to Mr. Adams a letter, from 
which the following is an extract: — "I cannot express how 
greatly affected I am at this new proof of public confidence, 
and the highly flattering manner in which you have been 
pleased to make the communication ; at the same time I must 
not conceal from you my earnest wish, that the choice had fal- 
len upon a man less declined in years, and better qualified to 
encounter the usual vicissitudes of war. You know, sir, what 
calculations I had made relative to the probable course of events 
on my retiring from office, and the determination I had con- 
soled myself with, of closing the remainder of my days in my 
present peaceful abode: you will, therefore, be at no loss to 
conceive and appreciate the sensations I must have experien- 
ced to bring my mind to any conclusion that would pledge me, 
at so late a period of life, to leave scenes I sincerely love, to en- 
ter upon the boundless field of public action, incessant trouble, 
and high responsibility. 

" It was not possible for me to remain ignorant of, or indiffer- 
ent to, recent transactions. The conduct of the Directory of 
France towards our country; their insidious hostility to its 
government; their various practices to withdraw the affections 
of the people from it ; the evident tendency of their acts and 
those of their agents to countenance and invigorate opposition ; 
their disregard of solemn treaties and the laws of nations ; their 
war upon our defenceless commerce ; their treatment of our 

« Laws of the United States, iii. 98. 

53 



418 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

ministers of peace, and their demands, amounting to tribute ; 
could not fail to excite in me corresponding sentiments with 
those my countrymen have so generally expressed in their af- 
fectionate addresses to you. Believe me, sir, no one can more 
cordially approve of the wise and prudent measures of your 
administration. They ought to inspire universal confidence; 
and will, no doubt, combined with the state of things, call from 
Congress such laws and means as will enable you to meet the 
full force and extent of the crisis. Satisfied, therefore, that you 
have sincerely wished and endeavored to avert war, and ex- 
hausted, to the last drop, the cup of reconciliation, we can with 
pure hearts appeal to heaven for the justice of our cause ; and 
may confidently trust the final result to that Providence who 
has heretofore, and so often, signally favored the people of these 
United States."* 

In the beginning of the year 1798, the government of Spain 
seemed to expect that Great Britain would send an expedition 
from Canada, through the A^orthwestern Territory, against the 
province of Louisiana. To quiet the anxiety of Spain, on this 
subject, and to protect the territory of the United States, Pre- 
sident Adams, on the 4th of February, 1798, instructed Gene- 
ral Wilkinson to employ all the force within his power, both 
militia and regulars, if necessary, to oppose the English or any 
other foreign nation, " who should presume to attempt a viola- 
tion of the territory of the United States, by an expedition 
through it, against their enemies." During the summer of 1798, 
the Spaniards retired reluctantly from the posts within the ter- 
ritory of the United States. On the 5th of October, 1798, Gen- 
eral Wilkinson established his head quarters at Loftus' Heights, 
where Fort Adams was soon afterwards erected. This Fort 
stood on the left bank of the river Mississippi, about six miles 
north of the 31st degree of north latitude, f 

In the month of September, 1798, the French Minister of For- 
eign Affairs, Charles Maurice Talleyrand, intimated, indirectly, 

♦ Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the U. S. of America i. 291. 
t Wilkinson's Memoirs, i. 434. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 419 

to Mr. Murray, American minister in Holland, that the Repub- 
lic of France was disposed to preserve peace with the United 
States, and desired to renew negotiations to eflect that object. 
Negotiations were soon afterwards commenced at Paris and 
carried on until the 30th of September, ISOO; on which day 
a treaty of peace and commerce was concluded between the 
United States and the Republic of France.* By a treaty con- 
cluded at St. Ildefonso, on the 1st of October, 1800, Spain 
agreed to retrocede to France the province of Louisiana, with 
the same extent that it had when France possessed it: and, on 
the 30th of April, 1803, France sold and ceded Louisiana (in 
its greatest extent,) to the United States for a sum about equal 
to fifteen millions of doUars.t 

At a legislative session which was commenced at Cincinnati 
on the 23d of April, 1798, and closed on the 7th of May, in 
the same year, Winthrop Sargent, acting as Governor of the 
northwestern territory, and John Cleves Symmes, Joseph Gil- 
man, and Return Jonathan Meigs, jr. judges of the territory, 
adopted and published eleven laws, under the following titles : 

I. — A law to confer on certain associations of the citizens 
of this territory the powers and immunities of corporations or 
bodies politic in law. — Adopted from the Pennsylvania code, 
and published on the 1st day of May. 

II. — A law for the punishment of maiming or disfiguring. — 
Adopted from the Kentucky code, and published on the 1st 
day of May. [This law was comprised in the following words: 
" Whosoever on purpose and of malice aforethought by laying 
in wait shall unlawfully cut out or disable the tongue, put out 
an eye, slit or bite the nose, ear or hp, or cut ofl["or disable any 
limb or member with the intention in so doing to maim or dis- 
figure such person, or shall voluntarily, maliciously and of pur- 
pose, pull or put out an eye while fighting or otherwise, every 
such offender, his or her aiders, abettors and counsellors shall 
be sentenced to undergo a confinement in the jail of the county 
in which the offence is committed, for any time not less than 

*Vide Am. State Papers, For. Relations, ii. 295,344, 345. 

t Vide Am. Stale Papers — Foreign Relations, ii. from p. 507 to 695: 



420 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

one month nor more than six months, and shall also pay a fine 
not less than fifty dollars, and not exceeding one thousand dol- 
lars ; one fourth of which shall be to the use of the territory, 
and three fourths thereof to the use of the party grieved, and 
for want of the means of payment the offender shall be sold to 
service by the court before which he is convicted, for any time 
not exceeding five years, the purchaser finding him food and 
raiment during the term."] 

III. — A law vesting certain powers in justices of the peace 
in criminal cases. --Adopted from the Massachusetts code, and 
published on the 1st day of May. 

IV. — A law for the equal division and distribution of insol- 
vent estates. — Adopted from the Connecticut code, and pub- 
lished on the 1st day of May. 

V. — A law to provide for the improvement of the breed of 
horses. — Adopted from the Kentucky code, and published on 
the 1st day of May. 

VI. — A law directing the mode of proceeding in civil cases. 

— Adopted from the Massachusetts code, and published on the 
1st day of May. 

VIL — A law in addition to a law entitled "a law ascertain- 
ing the fees of the several officers and persons therein named." 

— Published on the 1st day of May. 

VIII. — A law for the purpose of including all unsettled and 
unimproved tracts or parcels of land and subjecting them to 
taxation." — Adopted from an act of the state of Kentucky, 
and published on the 1st day of May. 

IX. — A law rendering the acknowledgment of deeds more 
easy. — Adopted from the Connecticut code, and published on 
the 1st day of May. [This law contained the following pro- 
vision : " All grants and deeds made of houses and lands may 
be acknowledged before one of the judges of the territory, jus- 
tice of the common pleas, or justice of the peace, any former 
law to the contrary notwithstanding."] 

X. — A law for establishing a land office. — Adopted from 
the Kentucky code, and published on the 1st of May. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 421 

XL — An act repealing certain laws and parts of laws. — 
Published on the 1st day of May. [Parts of two laws, (one 
concerning the fees of officers, &c. and the other relating to 
county levies,) were repealed by this act.] 

By an act of Congress, approved on the 7th of April, 1798,* 
the Territory of Mississippi was established ; and, on the 2d 
of May, Winthrop Sargent was nominated to the office of Gov- 
ernor of that territory. His nomination was confirmed by the 
Senate of the United States, on the 7th of May. On the 26th 
of June, in the same year, William Henry Harrison was nomi- 
nated to the office of Secretary of the Territory of the United 
States northwest of the river Ohio, and the nomination was 
confirmed by the Senate on the 28th of the same month. 

On the 29th day of October, 1798, Governor St. Clair issued 
a proclamation in which he directed the qualified voters of the 
northwestern territory to hold elections in their respective 
counties on the third Monday of December, and to elect rep- 
resentatives to a General Assembly, which he ordered to con- 
vene at Cincinnati on the 22d day of January, 1799. The 
representatives met at Cincinnati, and, in order to establish a 
Legislative Council according to the provisions of the Ordi- 
nance of 1787, nominated ten persons, whose names were sent 
to the President of the United States. Governor St. Clair then 
prorogued the meeting of the representatives to the 16th day 
of September, 1799. On the 2d of March, 1799, President 
Adams selected from the list of ten nominees, the names of 
Jacob Burnet, James Findlay, Henry Vanderburgh, Robert 
Oliver, and David Vance, and nominated these persons to be 
the Legislative Council of the Territory of the United States 
northwest of the river Ohio. On the next day the nomination 
was confirmed by the Senate, f 

A few members of the Territorial Legislature met at Cin- 
cinnati on the 16th of September, 1799, but the two Houses 
were not properly organized until the 24th of September. 
Henry Vanderburgh was elected President of the Legislative 

* Laws of the United States, iii. 39. 

t Journal of the Executive proceedings of the Senate of tlic United States, i. 323. 



422 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

Council. In the same body, William C. Schenk was elected 
Secretary; George Howard, Door-keeper, and Abner Cary, 
Sergeant-at-Arms. The names of the members of the House 
of Representatives were as follows: 

From the county of Hamilton. — WilHam Goforth, WiUiam 
McMillan, John Smith, John Ludlow, Robert Benham, Aaron 
Cadwell, [or Caldwell,] and Isaac Martin. 

From the county of Ross. — Thomas Worthington, Samuel 
Finley, Elias Langham, and Edward Tiffin. 

From the county of Wayne. — Solomon Sibley, Charles F. 
Chobert de Joncaire, and Jacob Visger. 

From the county of Adams. — Joseph Darlington, and Na- 
thaniel Massie. 

From the county of Knox. — Shadrach Bond. 

From the county of Jeflerson. — James Pritchard. 

From the county of Washington. — Return Jonathan Meigs. 

The House of Representatives elected Edward Tiffin, Speak- 
er; John Reilly, Clerk; Joshua Rowland, Door-keeper; and 
Abraham Cary, Sergeant-at-Arms.* 

On the 25th of September, Governor St. Clair addressed the 
Territorial Legislature, and, after calling the attention of that 
body to various subjects, closed his message in the following 
words : " The providing for, and the regulating the lives and 
morals of the present and of the rising generation, for the re- 
pression of vice, and immorality, and for the protection of vir- 
tue and innocence, for the security of property, and the pun- 
ishment of crimes, is a sublime employment. Every aid in my 
power will be afforded, and. I hope we shall bear in mind, that 
the character and deportment of the people, and their happi- 
ness, both here and hereafter, depend very much upon the 
genius and spirit of their laws." 

On the 3d of October, 1799, the Territorial Legislature 
elected a Delegate to Congress from the northwestern terri- 
tory. William H. Harrison, who was elected, received eleven 
votes ; and Arthur St. Clair, jr. (son of Governor St. Clair,) 
received ten votes. 

* Atwater's History of Ohio, 162. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 423 

In the course of their session, which was terminated on the 
19th of December, 1799, the Legislative Council and House 
of Representatives passed forty-eight acts. Of these acts, 
Governor St. Clair approved thirty-seven, and vetoed eleven. 
Among these eleven rejected acts there were six that related 
to the erection of new counties. The following is a list of the 
titles of the laws which were passed by the Legislature and 
approved by the Governor : 

I. — An act to confirm and give force to certain laws, enact- 
ed by the Governor and Judges of the Territory. — Approved 
on the 28th of October. 

II. — An act regulating the admission and practice of attor- 
neys and counsellors at law. — Approved on the 29th of Octo- 
ber. 

III. — An act regulating enclosures. — Approved on the 29th 
of October. 

IV. — An act providing for the service and return of process 
in certain cases. — Approved on the 29th of October. 

V. — An act regulating the interest of money, and fixing the 
same at six per centum per annum, and for preventing usury. 
— Approved on the 15th of November. 

VI. — An act authorizing and regulating arbitrations, — Ap- 
proved on the 15th of November. 

VII. — An act to establish and regulate ferries. — Approved 
on the 15th of November. 

VIII. — An act making promissory notes and inland bills of 
exchange negotiable. — Approved on the 15th of November. 

IX. — An act to prevent trespassing by cutting of timber. — 
Approved on the 15th of November. 

X. — An act supplemental to an act entitled "an act to pre- 
vent trespassing by cutting of timber." — Approved on the 19th 
of December. 

XI. — An act regulating grist-mills and millers. — Approved 
on the 2d of December. 

XII. — An act to regulate the disposition of water-crafts of 
certain descriptions, found gone or going adrift, and of estray 
animals. — Approved on the 2d of December. 



424 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

XIII. — An act for the prevention of vice and immorality. — 
Approved on the 2d of December. [This act was designed to 
prevent Sabbatli-breaking, profane swearing, drunkenness, du- 
elling, cock-fighting, running horses on public highways, and 
gambling at billiards, cards, dice, shovel-board, &c.] 

XIV. — An act to create the office of a Territorial Treasurer 
and an Auditor of Public Accounts. — Approved on the 2d of 
December. 

XV. — An act estabUshing courts for the trial of small causes. 

— Approved on the 2d of December. 

XVI. — An act providing for the appointment of constables. 

— Approved on the 2d of December. 

XVII. — An act to ascertain the number of free male inhab- 
itants, of the age of twenty-one, in the territory of the United 
States northwest of the river Ohio, and to regulate the elec- 
tions of representatives for the same. — Approved on the 6th 
of December. 

XVIII. — An act to prevent the introduction of spirituous 
liquors into certain Indian towns. — Approved on the 6th of 
December. 

XIX. ^ — An act regulating the firing of woods, prairies, and 
other lands. — Approved on the 6th of December. 

XX. — An act establishing and regulating the militia. — 
Approved on the 13th of December. 

XXI. — An act defining and regulating privileges in certain 
cases. — Approved on the 6th of December. 

XXII. — An act for allowing compensation to the members 
of the House of Representatives, who attended to put in nomi- 
nation the members of the Legislative Council, and for defray- 
ing the incidental expenses accrued thereon. — Approved on 
the 13th of December. 

XXIII. — An act for the relief of poor persons imprisoned 
for debt. — Approved on the 13th of December. 

XXIV. — An act for opening and regulating public roads 
and highways. — Approved on the 13th of December. 

XXV. — An act levying a territorial tax on land. — Appro- 
ved on the 19th of December. [By this act the owners of 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 425 

lands within tiie territory were taxed, for every hundred acres 
of first rate land, eighty-five cents; for every hundred acres of 
second rate land, sixty cents ; for every hundred acres of third 
rate land, twenty-five cents; and so in proportion for a greater 
or smaller quantity.] 

XXVI. — An act to regulate county levies. — Approved on 
the 19th of December. 

XXVII. — An act allowing and regulating prison bounds. — 
Approved on the 19th of December. [The prison bounds al- 
lowed by this act did not extend in any direction more than 
two hundred yards from the jail.] 

XXVIII. — An act for the appointment of county treasurers. 
— Approved on the 19th of December. 

XXIX. — An act for allowing compensation to the members 
of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the 
territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and 
to the officers of both Houses. — Approved on the 19th of De- 
cember. [This act allowed to each member of the Legislature 
the sum of three dollars, " for each and every day's attendance 
on the business of legislation," and " at the commencement 
and ending of every session, three dollars for every fifteen 
miles of the estimated distance, by the most usual road, from 
his place of residence to the seat of the Assembly." To the 
Secretary of the Council, the sum of three dollars per day, 
"for his services in attending to the business of the Council, 
and the additional sum of three dollars per day for clerk hire 
and incidental expenses." To the Clerk of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, three dollars per day for his services, " and the 
additional sum of four dollars per day for clerk hire and inci- 
dental expenses." To the Sergeantat-Arms for both Houses 
two dollars per day; and to the Door-keeper of each, one dol- 
lar and fifty cents per day, during the session.] 

XXX. — An act to regulate the enclosing and cultivating of 
common fields. — Approved on the 19th of December. 

XXXT. — An act regulating the fees of the constables in the 

several counties within this territory. — Approved on the 19th 

of December. 
54 



426 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

XXXII. — All act to encourage the killing of wolves. — Ap- 
proved on the 19th of Decenxber. 

XXXIII. — An act for the punishment of arson. — Approved 
on the 19th of December. 

XXXIV. — An act for allowing compensation to the Attor- 
ney-General of the territory, and to the persons prosecuting 
the pleas, in behalf of the territory, in the several counties. — 
Approved on the 19th of December. 

XXXV. — An act supplementary to the act entitled " a law 
for the relief of the poor." — Approved on the 19th of Decem- 
ber. 

XXXVI. — An act appropriating moneys for the payment of 
the debts due from this territory, and making appropriations 
for the ensuing year. — Approved on the 19th of December. 

XXXVII. — An act repealing certain laws and parts of laws. 
— Approved on the 19th of December. 

On the 30th of December, 1799, the President of the United 
States nominated Charles Willing Byrd to the office of Secre- 
tary of the territory of the United States northwest of the 
river Ohio ; and, on the next day the Senate confirmed the 
nomination. 

On the 7th of May, 1800, the President of the United States 
approved an act of Congress entitled " an act to divide the ter- 
ritory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio into 
two separate governments." * The following copy of this act 
shall close the introduction to the History of Indiana: 

" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That 
from and after the 4th day of July next, all that part of the 
territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, 
which lies to the westward of a line beginning at the Ohio, 
opposite to the mouth of Kentucky river, and running thence 
to Fort Recovery, and thence, north, until it shall intersect 
the territorial line between the United States and Canada, 
shall, for the purposes of temporary government, constitute a 
separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory. 

« Laws of the United Sates, iii- 367. 



HISTORICAL NOTES. 427 

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be estab- 
lished within the said Territory a government, in all respects 
similar to that provided by the ordinance of Congress, passed 
on the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and 
eighty-seven, for the Territory of the United States northwest 
of the river Ohio: and the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled 
to, and enjoy, all and singular the rights, privileges and advan- 
tages, granted and secured to the people by the said ordinance. 

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted. That the officers of the 
said Territory, who, by virtue of this act, shall be appointed 
by the President of the United States, by and with the advice 
and consent of the Senate, shall, respectively, exercise the 
same powers, perform the same duties, and receive for their 
services the same compensations, as, by the ordinance afore- 
said, and the laws of the United States, have been provided 
and established for similar officers in the Territory of the Uni- 
ted States northwest of the river Ohio. And the duties and 
emoluments of superintendent of Indian Affairs shall be united 
with those of Governor: Provided, That the President of the 
United States shall have power, in the recess of Congress, to 
appoint and commission all officers herein authorized ; and 
their commissions shall continue in force until the end of the 
next session of Congress. 

Sec. 4. x\nd be it further enacted. That so much of the ordi- 
nance for the government of the Territory of the United States 
northwest of the Ohio river, as relates to the organization of a 
General Assembly therein, and prescribes the powers thereof, 
shall be in force and operate in the Indiana Territory, when- 
ever satisfactory evidence shall be given to the.Governor there- 
of, that such is the wish of a majority of the freeholders, not- 
withstanding there may not be therein five thousand free male 
inhabitants of the age of twenty-one years and upwards : Pro- 
vided, That until there shall be five thousand free male inhab- 
itants, of twenty-one years and upwards, in said Territory, the 
whole number of Representatives to the General Assembly 
shall not be less than seven, nor more than nine, to be appor- 
tioned by the Governor to the several counties in said territory 



428 HISTORICAL NOTES. 

agreeably to the number of free males of the age of twenty-one 
years and upwards, which they may respectively contain. 

Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That nothing in this act 
contained shall be construed so as in any manner to affect the 
government now in force in the Territory of the United States 
northwest of the Ohio river, further than to prohibit the exer- 
cise thereof within the Indiana Territory, from and after the 
aforesaid fourth day of July next : Provided, That, whenever 
that part of the Territory of the United States which lies to 
the eastward of a line beginning at the mouth of the Great 
Miami river, and running thence, due north, to the territorial 
Une between the United States and Canada, shall be erected 
into an independent state, and admitted into the union on an 
equal footing with the original states, thenceforth said line 
shall become and remain permanently the boundary line be- 
tween such state and the Indiana Territory, any thing in this 
act contained to the contrary notwithstanding. 

Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That, until it shall be 
otherwise ordered by the Legislatures of the said Territories, 
respectively, Chillicothe, on Scioto river, shall be the seat of 
the government of the Territory of the United States north- 
west of the Ohio river; and that Saint Vincennes, on the 
Wabash river, shall be the seat of the government for the 
Indiana Territory." 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX. 



A— Page 199. 



TREATY OF FORT xVI'INTOSH. 

Articles of a treaty concluded at Fort M'Intosli, the twenty-first day of January, one thou- 
sand seven hundred and eichty-five, between the Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the 
United States of America, of the one part, and the sachems and warriors of the Wyan- 
dot, Delaware, Chippewa, and Ottawa nations of the other. 

The Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United States in Congress assembled, give 
peace to the Wyandot, Delaware, Chippewa, and Ottawa nations of Indians, on the follow- 
ing conditions : 

Art 1. Three chiefs, one from among the Wyandot, and two from among the Delaware 
nations, shall lie delivered up to the Commissioners of the United States, to be by them re- 
tained till all the prisoners, white and black, taken by the said nations, or any of them, shall 
be restored. 

Art. 2. The said Indian nations do acknowledge themselves and all their tribes to be 
under the protection of the United States, and of no other sovereign whatsoever. 

Art. 3. The boundary line between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware 
nations, shall begin at the mouth of the River Cayahoga, and run thence up the said river 
to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of Muskingum ; then down the said 
branch to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Lawrence ; then westerly to the por- 
tage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Oliio, at the mouth of which branch the fort 
stood which was taken by the French in one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two ; then 
along the said portage to the Great Miami or Ome River, and down the south-east side of 
the same to its mouth ; thence along the south shore of Lake Erie, to the mouth of Cava, 
hoga, where it began. 

.\rt. 4. The United States allot all the lands contained within the said lines to the Wy- 
andot and Delaware nations, to live and to hunt on, and to such of the Ottawa nation as 
now live thereon ; saving and reserving for the establishment of trading posts, six miles 
square at the mouth of Miami or Ome River, and tlie same at the portage on that brnncli of 
the Big Miami which runs into the Ohio, and the same on the lake of Sandusky where the 
fort formerly stood, and also two miles square on each side of the lower rapids of Sandusky 
River, which posts and the lands annexed to them, shall be to the use and under the gov- 
ernment of the United States. 

Art. 5. If any citizen of the United States, or other person, not being nn Indian, shall 
attempt to settle on any of the lands allotted to the Wyandot and Delaware nations in this 
treaty, except on the lands reserved to the United States in the preceding article, such per- 
son shall forfeit the protection of the United States, and the Indians may punish him as 
they please. 



432 



APPENDIX 



Art. 6. The Indians who sign this treaty, as well in behalf of all their tribes as of them 
selves, do acknowledge the lands east, south, and west, of the lines described in the third 
article, so far as the said Indians formerly claimed the same, to belong to the United States ; 
and none of their tribes shall presume to settle upon the same, or any part of it. 

Art. 7. The post of Detroit, with a district beginning at the mouth of the River Rosine, 
on the west end of Lake Erie, and running west six miles up the southern bank of the said 
river, thence northerly and always six miles west of the strait, till it strikes the Lake St. 
Clair, shall be also reserved to the sole use of the United States. 

Art. 8. In the same manner, the post of Michilimackinac, with its dependencies, and 
twelve miles square about the same, shall be reserved to the use of the United States. 

Art. 9. If any Indian or Indians shall commit a robbery or murder on any citizen of 
the United States, the tribe to which such offenders may belong, shall be bound to deliver 
them up at the nearest post, to be punished according to the ordinances of the United States. 

Art. 10. The Commissioners of the United States, in pursuance of the humane and 
liberal views of Congress, upon this treaty's being signed, will direct goods to be distributed 
among the different tribes for their use and comfort. 

SEPARATE ARTICLE. 

It is agreed that the Delaware chiefs, Kelelamand, or Colonel Henry, Hengue Pushees, 
or the Big Cat, Wicocalind, or Captain White Eyes, who took up the hatchet for the Uni- 
ted States, and their families, shall be received into the Delaware nation, in the same situ- 
ation and rank as before the war, and enjoy their due portions of the lands given to the 
Wyandot and Delaware nations in tliis treaty, as fully as if they had not taken part with 
America, or as any other person or persona in the said nations. 

Go. Clark, 
Richard Butler, 
Arthur Lee, 
witness: Daunghquot, his x mark, 



Saml. J. Atlee,) P. Commission- Abraham Kuhn, his x mark, 

Fras. Johnston,) ers. Ottawerreri, his x mark, 

Alex. Campbell, Hobocan, his x mark, 

Jos. Harmar, Lieut. Col. Com't, Walendightun, his x mark, 

Alex. Lowrey, Talapoxic, his x mark, 

Joseph Nicholas, Interpreter, Wingenum, his x mark, 

I. Bradford, Packelant, his x mark, 

George Slaughter, Gingewanno, his x mark. 

Van Swearingen, . Waanoos, his x mark, 

John Boggs, Konalawassee, his x mark, 

G. Evans, Shawnaqum, his x mark, 

D. Luckett. Quecookkia, his x mark. 



TREATY OF FORT ST AN WIX — Page 311. 

Articles of a treaty concluded at Fort Stanwix, on the twenty-second day of October, one 
thousand seven hundred and eighty-four, between Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and 
Arthur Lee, Commissioners Plenipotentiary from the United States, in Congress assem- 
bled, on the one part, and the sachems and warriors of the Six Nations, on the other. 

The United States of America give peace to the Senekaa, Mohawks, Onondagas, and 
Cayugas, and receive them into their protection upon the following conditions: 



APPENDIX, 



433 



Art. 1. Six hostages shall be immediately delivered to the commissioners by the said 
nations, to remain in possession of the United States, till all the prisoners, white and black, 
which were taken by the said Senekas, Mohawks, Onondagas, and Cayugas, or by any of 
thera, in the late war, from among the people of the United States, shall be delivered up. 

Art. 2. The Oneida and Tuscarora nations shall be secured in the possession of the lands 
on which they are settled. 

Art. 3. A line shall be drawn, beginning at the mouth of a creek, about four miles east 
of Niagara, called Oyonwayea, or Johnston's Landing Place, upon the lake, named by the 
Indians Oswego, and by us Ontario ; from thence southerly, in a direction always four 
miles east of the carrying path, between lake Erie and Ontario, to the mouth of Tehosero- 
ron, or Buffalo creek, on Lake Erie; thence south, to the north boundary of the state of 
Pennsylvania ; thence west, to the end of the said north boundary ; thence south, along the 
west boundary of the said state, to the river Ohio; the said line, from the mouth of the 
Oyonwayea to the Ohio, shall be the western boundary of the lands of the Six Nations; so 
that the Six Nations shall and do yield to the United States, all claims to the country west 
of the said boundary ; and then they shall be secured in the peaceful possession of the lands 
they inhabit, east and north of the same, reserving only six miles square, round the fort of 
Oswego, to the United States, for the support of the same. 

Art. 4. The commissioners of the United States, in consideration of the present circum- 
stances of the Six iNations, and in execution ef the humane and liberal views of the 
United States, upon the signing of the above articles, will order goods to be delivered to 

the saidSix Nations, for their use and comfort. 

Oliver Wolcott, 

Kichard Butler, 

Arthur Lee, 

MOHAWKS. 

Onogwendahonji, his x mark, 
Touighnatogon, his x mark, 

ONONDAG.VS, 

Oheadarighton, his x mark, 
Kendarindgon, his x mark, 

SENEKAS. 

Tayagonendagighti, his x mark, 
Tehonwaeaghrigagi, his x mark, 

ONEIDAS. 

Otyadoncnghti, his x mark, 
Dagaheari, his x mark, 

CAVUGA. 

Oraghgoanendagen, his x mark, 

TUSKARORAS. 

Ononghsawenghti, his x mark, 
Tharondawagon, his x mark, 

SENBEA ABEAL. 

Kayenthoghke, his x mark. 



WITNESSES. 



Sam. Jo. Atlee, 

Wm. Maclay, 

Fras. Johnson, 

Aaron Hill, 

Alexander Campbell, 

Saml. Kirkland, Missionary, 

James Dean, 

Saml. Montgomery, 

Derick Lane, Capt., 

John Mercer, Lieut., 

William Pennington, Lieut., 

Mahlon Hord, Ensign, 

Hugh Peebles. 



Pennsylvania Com- 
missioners. 



55 



434 APPENDIX 



B— Page 199. 
AN ORDINANCE, ETC. 

All ordinance for ascertaining the mode of disposing of lands in the Western Territory. 

Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That the territory ceded by 
individual states, to the United States, which has been purchased of the Indian inhabitants, 
shall be disposed of in the following manner : 

A surveyor from each state shall be appointed by Congress, or a committee of the States, 
who shall take an oath for the faithful discharge of his duty, before the geographer of the 
United States, who is hereby empowered and directed to administer the same ; and the like 
oath shall be administered to each chain-carrier, by the surveyor under whom he acts. 

The geographer, under whose direction the surveyors shall act, shall occasionally form 
such regulations for their conduct, as he shall deem necessary ; and shall have authority 
to suspend them for misconduct in office, and shall make report of the same to Congress, or 
to the committee of the States ; and he shall make report in case of sickness, death, or re- 
signation, of any surveyor. 

The surveyors, as they are respectively qualified, shall proceed to divide the said terri- 
tory into townships of six miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others 
crossing these at right angles, as near as may be, unless where the boundaries of the late 
Indian purchases may render the same impracticable, and then they shall depart from this 
rule no farther than such particular circumstances may require. And each surveyor shall 
be allowed and paid at the rate of two dollars for every mile in length lie shall run, includ- 
ing the wages of chain-carriers, markers, and every other expense attending the same. 

The first line running north and south as aforesaid, shall begin on the River Ohio, at a 
point that shall be found to be due north from the western termination of a line which has 
been run as the southern boundary of the State of Pennsylvania ; and the first line running 
east and west, shall begin at the same point, and shall extend throughout the whole terri- 
tory ; provided, that nothing herein shall be construed, as fixing the western boundary of 
the State of Pennsylvania. The geographer shall designate the townships or fractional 
parts of townships, by numbers, progressively, from south to north ; always beginning each 
range with No. 1 ; and the ranges shall be distinguished by their progressive numbers to the 
westward. The first range, extending from the Ohio to the Lake Erie, being marked No. 
1. The geographer shall personally attend to the running of the first east and west line ; 
and shall take the latitude of the extremes of the first north and south line, and of the 
mouths of the principal rivers. 

The lines shall be measured with a chain ; shall be plainly marked by chaps on the trees, 
and exactly described on a plat ; whereon shall be noted by the surveyor, at their proper 
distances, all mines, salt springs, salt licks, and mill seats, that shall come to his knowl- 
edge ; and all water courses, mountains, and other remarkable and permanent things, over 
or near which such lines shall pass, and also the quality of the lands. 

The plats of the townships, respectively, shall be marked, by subdivisions, into lots of 
one mile square, or 640 acres, in the same direction as the external lines, and numbered 
from 1 to 36 ; always beginning the succeeding range of the lots with the number next to 
that with which the preceding one concluded, .^nd where, from the causes beforemen- 
tioned, only a fractional part of a township shall be surveyed, the lots protracted thereon 
shall bear the same numbers as if the township had been entire. And the surveyors, in 
running the external lines of the townships shall, at the interval of every mile, mark cor- 
ners for the lots which are adjacent, always designating the same in a different manner 
from those of the townships. 



APPENDIX. 435 

Tlie geographer and surveyors shall pay the utmost attention to the variation of the 
magnetic neeJIe, and shall run and note all lines by the true meridian, certifying with eve- 
ry plat what was the variation at the times of running the lines thereon noted. 

Ab soon as seven ranges of townships, and fractional parts of townships, in the direction 
from south to north, shall have been surveyed, the geographer shall transmit plats thereof 
to the board of treasury, who sliall record the same, with the report, in well bound books 
to be kept for that purpose. And tlie geographer shall make similar returns, from time to 
time, of every seven ranges, as they may be surveyed. The secretary of war shall have 
recourse thereto, and shall take by lot therefrom a number of townships and fractional 
parts of townships, as well from those to be sold entire, as from those to be sold in lots, as 
will be equal to one-seventh part of the whole of such seven ranges, as nearly as may be, 
for the use of the late continental army; and he shall make a similar draught, from time 
to time, until a sufficient quantity is drawn to satisfy the same, to be applied in manner 
hereinafter directed. The board of treasury shall, from time to time, cause the remaining 
numbers, as well those to be sold entire as those to be sold in lots, to be drawn for, in the 
name of the thirteen states, respectively, according to the quotas in the last preceding re- 
quisition on all the states: provided, that in case more land than its proportion is allotted 
for sale in any state at any distribution, a deduction he made therefor at the next. 

The board of treasury shall transmit a copy of the original plats, previously noting 
thereon the townships and fractional parts of townships, which shall have fallen to the 
several states, by the distribution aforesaid, to the commissioners of the loan office of the 
several states, who, after giving notice of not less than two, nor more than six months, by 
causing advertisements to be posted up at the court houses or other noted places in every 
county, and to be inserted in one newspaper published in the states of their residence, 
respectively, shall proceed to sell the townsliips or fractional parts of townships, at public 
vendue, in the following manner, viz : the township or fractional part of a township No. 1, 
in the first range, shall be sold entire ; and No. 2, in the same range, by lots ; and thus, in 
alternate order, through the whole of the first range. The township or fractional part of 
a township No. 1, in the second range sliall be sold by lots; and No. 2, in the same range, 
entire ; and so, in alternate order, through the whole of the second range ; and the third 
range shall he sold in the same manner as the first, and the fourth in the same manner as 
the second; and thus, alternately, throughout all the ranges: provided, that none of the 
lands within the said territory be sold under the price of one dollar the acre, to be paid in 
specie or loan office certificates, reduced to specie value by the scale of depreciation, or cer- 
tificates of liquidated debts of the United States, including interest, besides the expense of 
the survey and other charges thereon, which are hereby rated at thirty-six dollars the 
township, in specie or certificates as aforesaid, and so in the same proportion, for a frac- 
tional part of a township or of a lot, to be paid at the time of sales, on failure of which pay- 
ment the said lands shall again be offered for sale. 

There shall be reserved for the United States out of every township, the four lots, being 
numbered 8, 11, 26. 29, and out of every fractional part of a township, so many lots of the 
same numbers as shall be found thereon, for future sale. There shall be reserved the lot 
No. 16, of every township, for the maintenance of public schools within the said township ; 
also, one-third part of all gold, silver, lead, and copper mines, to be sold, or otherwise dis- 
posed of, as Congress shall hereafter direct. 

When any township or fractional part of a township, shall have been sold as aforesaid, 
and the money or certificates received therefor, the loan officer shall deliver a deed in the 
following terms : 

The United States of America, to all to whom these presents shall rome, greeting : 



436 APPENDIX. 

Know ye, that for the consideration of dollars, we have granted, and lieieby do 

grant and confirm, unto , the township (or fractional part of the town- 
ship, as the case may be) numbered , in the range , excepting therefrom, and re- 
serving, one-third part of all gold, silver, lead, and copper mines, within the same ; and the 
lots no 8, 11, 26, and 29, for future sale or disposition, and the lot No 16, for the main- 
tenance of public schools. To have to the said , his heirs and assigns, for- 
ever ; (or, if more than one purchaser, to the said , their heirs and assigns, 

forever, as tenants in common.) In witness whereof, A. B. commissioner of the loan of- 
fice in the State of , hath, in conformity to the ordinance passed by the United 

States, in Congress assembled, the twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord 1785, 

hereunto set his hand and affixed his seal, this day of , in the year of 

our Lord , and of the independence of the United States of America . 

And when any township, or fractional part of a township, shall be sold by lots as afore- 
said, the commissioner of the loan office shall deliver a deed therefor in tlie following form : 

The United States of America, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting : 

Know ye, that for the consideration of dollars, we have granted and hereby do 

grant and confirm, unto , the lot (or lots, as the case may be, in the township 

or fractional part of the township, as the case may be) numbered , in the range 

, excepting and reserving one third part of all gold, silver, lead, and copper mines, 

within the same, for future sale or disposition. To have to the said , his 

heirs and assigns, forever; (or, if more than one purchaser, to the said , 

their heirs and assigns, forever, as tenants in common.) In witness whereof, A. B. com- 
missioner of the continental loan office in the State of , hath, in conformity to the 

ordinance passed by the United States in Congress assembled, the twentieth day of May, 

in the year of our Lord 1785, hereunto set his hand and affixed his seal, this day 

of , in the year of our Lord , and of the independence of the United States 

of America . 

Which deeds shall be recorded in proper books, by the commissioner of the loan office, 
and shall be certified to have been recorded, previous to their being delivered to the purcha- 
ser, and shall be good and valid to convey the lands in the same described. 

The commissioners of the loan offices, respectively, shall transmit to the board of trea- 
sury, every three months, an account of the townships, fractional parts of townships, and 
lots, committed to their charge; specifying therein the names of the persons to whom sold, 
and the sums of money or certificates received for the same ; and shall cause all certificates 
by them received, to be struck through with a circular punch ; and they shall be duly 
charged in the books of the treasury with the amount of tlie moneys or certificates, dis- 
tinguishing the same, by them received as aforesaid. 

If any township, or fractional part of a township or lot, remains unsold for eighteen 
months after the plat shall have been received by the commissioners of the loan office, the 
same shall be returned to the board of treasury, and shall be sold in such manner as Con- 
gress may hereafter direct. 

And whereas Congress, by their resolutions of September 16th and 18th, in the year 
1776, and the 12th of August, 1780, stipulated grants of land to certain officers and sol- 
diers of the late continental army, and by the resolution of the 22d September, 1780, stip- 
ulated grants of land to certain officers in the hospital department of the late continental 
army ; for complying, therefore, with puch engagements, be it ordained, that the Secretary 
of War, from the returns in his office, or such other sufficient evidence as the nature of the 
case may admit, determine who are the objects of the above resolutions and engagements, 
and the quantity of land to which such persons or their representatives are, respectively, 
entitled, and cause the townships or fractional parts of townships, herein before reserved 



APPENDIX. 437 

for the use of the late continental army, to be drawn for in such manner as he shall deem 
expedient, to answer the purpose of an impartial distribution. He shall, from time to time, 
transmit certificates to the commissioners of the loan offices of the different states, to the 
lines of which the military claimants have respectively belonged, specifying the name and 
rank of the party, the terms of his engagement and time of his service, and the division, 
brigade, regiment, or company, to which he belonged, the quantity of land he is entitled to, 
and the township or fractional part of a township and range out of which his portion is to 
be taken. 

The commissioners of the loan offices shall execute deeds for such undivided proportions, 
in manner and form herein before mentioned, varying only in such a degree as to make 
the same conformable to the certificate from the secretary of war. 

Where any military claimants of bounty in lands shall not have belonged to the line of 
any particular state, similar certificates shall be sent to the board of treasury, who shall 
execute deeds to the parties for the same. 

The secretary of war, from tlie proper returns, shall transmit to the board of treasury a 
certificate, specifying the name and rank of the several claimants of the hospital depart- 
ment of the late continenal army, together with the quantity of land each claimant is 
entitled to, and the township or fractional part of a township and range out of which his 
portion is to be taken ; and thereupon the board of treasury shall proceed to execute deeds 
to such claimants. 

The board of treasury, and tlie commissioners of the loan offices in the states, shall, 
within eighteen months, return receipts to the secretary of war, for all deeds which have 
been delivered, as also all the original deeds which remain in their hands for want of ap- 
plicants, having been first recorded ; which deeds, so returned, shall be preserved in the 
office, until the parties or their representatives require the same. 

And be it further ordained. That three townships adjacent to Lake Erie be reserved, to 
be hereafter disposed of by Congress, for the use of the officers, men, and others, refugees 
from Canada, and the refugees from Nova Scotia, who are or may be entitled to grants of 
land under resolutions of Congress now existing, sr which may hereafter be made respect- 
ing them, and for such other purposes as Congress may hereafter direct. 

And be it further ordained. That the towns of Gnadenhutten, Schoenbrun, and Salem, 
on the Muskingum, and so much of the lands adjoining to the said towns, with the 
buildings and improvements thereon, shall be reserved for the sole use of the christian In- 
dians, who were formerly settled there, or the remains of that society, as may, in the 
judgment of the geographer, be sufficient for them to cultivate. 

Saving and reserving always, to all officers and soldiers entitled to lands on the north- 
west side of the Ohio, by donation or bounty from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and to 
all persons claiming under them, all rights to which they are so entitled, under the deed 
of cession executed by the delegates for the State of Virginia, on the 1st day of March, 
1784, and the act of Congress accepting the same : and to the end that the said rights may 
be fully and effectually secured, according to the true intent and meaning of the said deed 
of cession and act aforesaid, be it ordained, that no part of the land included between the 
rivers called Little Miami and Scioto, on the north-west side of the River Ohio, be sold, or 
in any manner alienated, until there shall first have been laid off and appropriated for the 
said officers and soldiers, and persons claiming under them, the lands they are entitled to, 
agreeably to the said deed of cession and act of Congress accepting the same. 

Done by the United States in Congress assembled, the 20tli day of May, in the year of 
our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, and of our sovereignty and 
independence the ninth. RICHARD H. LEE, President. 

Charles Thomson, Secretary. 



438 APPENDIX, 



SUPPLEMENT. 

A supplement to an ordinance, entitled "An ordinance for ascertaining tlie mode of dis- 
posing of lands in the western territory. 

Whereas it is found to be inconvenient to execute that part of the land ordinmce, passed 
May 20, 1785, which directs that certain proportions of lands be allotted to the several 
states, to be sold by the loan officers in each state. And whereas a sufficient quantity of 
lands, for satisfying the bounties due to the late army, was set apart by the act of Congress, 
passed the 22d of October last whereby further drafts for satisfying military bounties in 
lands from the townships lately surveyed, are become unnecessary : 

Be it ordained by the United States in Congress assembled, That so much of the said or- 
dinance, passed May 20, 1785, as ordains that certain parts of the townships therein di- 
rected to be surveyed, shall be drawn for in the name of the thirteen states, respectively, 
according to the quotas in the last preceding requisitions, in all the states, in order that the 
same be sold by the said loan officers ; and also, that the secretary oT war shall take by 
lot from the townships when surveyed, certain proportions of land for the use of the late 
army, so far as the same may respect further drafts, be and the same are hereby repealed. 

Be it further ordained. That the board of treasury be, and they hereby are, authorized 
and directed, to sell those parts of the seven ranges of townships surveyed in the western 
territory, which are not already sold or drawn for the use of the late army, in the same 
manner, on the same conditions, and under the same restrictions and limitations, as were 
prescribed in the resolutions of Congress of April 21st, 1787, e.xcept as to the place of sale, 
and the daily continuance thereof, which may be so far varied, that the said board may 
commence the sales at New York or Philadelphia, and adjourn the same from time to time 
to any part or parts of the United States which they may judge most proper for the purpose. 

Be it further ordained, That the secretary of war issue warrants for bounties of land to 
the several officers and soldiers of the late continental army who may be entitled to such 
bounties, or to their respective assigns or legal representatives, certifying therein the rank 
or station of each officer, and the line, regiment, corps, and company, in which the officer 
or soldier served. 

Be it further ordained. That tlie geographer, by warrant under his hand and seal, ap- 
point one surveyor to each of the two tracts or districts of land set apart for satisfying the 
said bounties by the act of Congress of the 22d of October last ; and that the persons enti- 
tled to lands by virtue of warrants issued as aforesaid, shall be at liberty to locate them on 
any part of the two tracts of lands set apart as aforesaid ; provided, that each location and 
survey shall be bounded on one side by one of the external boundaries of one of the tracts 
aforesaid, or by some prior survey therein ; and the e-\ternal lines of each survey shall run 
east and west, north and south, such parts thereof excepted as may border upon a river 
bounding the district, and the several surveys shall be in squares, unless where restrained 
by such river, or by the lines of former surveys ; and provided also, that in every location 
there shall be a combination of as many warrants as shall make the same at least six miles 
square, and no interstices shall be left between surveys less than six miles wide. 

Be it further ordained. That each surveyor, upon making any survey, shall protract and 
lay the same down in a general map, to be kept and preserved, and shall make a record of 
each survey in a book to be kept for that purpose, and make out and deliver a copy of the 
survey, certified under his hand, to the proprietor or proprietors thereof and the surveyor 
shall retain in his hands all warrants by him laid out and located, until he can transmit the 
same to the board of treasury, which he shall do within one year after laying out the land, 
certifying thereon, under his hand, that the same is satisfied. That the surveyors to be ap- 
pointed as herein before directed, shall be entitled to receive, for the services enjoined 



APPENDIX. 439 

iliem by this ordinance, so much only as sliall be allowed and fixed by tlie governor and 
judges of the western territory, and shall be liable to he displaced by tlie geographer for 
neglect of duty, or other misbehavior ; in vvhicli case he shall supply any vacancy so hap- 
pening by a new appointment. That each surveyor who may be appointed under this or- 
dinance, before he enters upon the duties of his office, shall take an oath or affirmation, 
that he will justly and truly execute the trust reposed in liiin as surveyor of a district of 
land in the western territory, according to the best of his skill and understanding, without 
favor or partiality : which oath or affirmation shall be taken before the governor or either 
of the judges of the western territory, or one of the justices of the supreme court in any of 
the United States, and being duly attested, shall be transmitted to the secretary of Con- 
gress, to be by him filed of record. That the maps and records before mentioned, shall, 
at all times, be subject to the orders of Congress, to be removed or deposited wherever they 
shall direct. That if any officer or soldier, or assignee or grantee of either, shall desire to 
have their bounty of land allotted in the townships or fractional parts thereof, lately drawn 
for the army by the secretary of war, out of the first four ranges of townships surveyed 
west of the Ohio, and shall cause such his desire, in writing, together with his land war- 
rant, to be deposited in the office of the secretary of war, before the first of July, 1789; 
the said secretary shall cause so much of the said townships which have been drawn for 
the army, to be drawn for by lot, as will satisfy the warrants so deposited, for which sur. 
veys shall be made out and delivered to the several proprietors, signed by the geographer 
of the United States, which surveys shall be recorded in a book by the geographer, and 
lodged in the treas\iry office. And whereas lands are set apart for satisfying military boun- 
ties, not only in the said districts and townships, but also within the limits of purchases 
made by several companies : 

Be it further ordained, That the persons who have purchased tracts of the federal lands, 
shall have credit for so much land as the warrants issued as aforesaid, and delivered by 
them to the board of treasury, cover; provided, that in no case deductions on account of 
military bounties shall exceed one-seventh part of the purchase. 

Passed July 9, 1788. 



C— Page 200. 



TREATY AT THE MOUTH OF THE GREAT 

MIAMI. 

Articles of a treaty concluded at the mouth of the Great Miami, on the north-western bank 
of the Ohio, the 31st day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six, be- 
tween the commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States of America, of the one 
part, and the chiefs and warriors of the Shawanee nation, of the other part. 

Art. 1. Three hostages shall be immediately delivered to the commissioners, to remain 
in the possession of the United States until all the prisoners, white and black, taken in the 
late war, from among the citizens of the United States, by the Shawanee nation, or by any 
other Indian or Indians residing in their towns, shall be restored. 

Art. 2. The Shawanee nation do acknowledge the United States to be the sole and abso- 
lute sovereigns of all the territory ceded to them by a treaty of peace, made between them 
and the king of Great Britain, the fourteenth day of January, one thousand seven hundred 
and eighty-four. 

Art. 3. If any Indian or Indians of the Shawanee nation, or any other Indian or Indians 
residing in their towns, shall commit murder or robbery on, or do any injury to, the citi- 



440 APPENDIX. 

zens of the United States, or any of them, that nation shall deliver such offender or 
offenders to the officer commanding the nearest post of the United States, to be punished ac- 
cording to the ordinances of Congress , and in like manner, any citizen of the United States, 
who shall do an injury to any Indian of the Shawanee nation, or to any other Indian or In- 
dians residing in their towns, and under their protection, shall be punished according to the 
laws of the United States. 

Art. 4. The Shawanee nation having knowledge of ihe intention of any nation or body 
of Indians to make war on the citizens of the United States, or of their counselling together 
for that purpose, and neglecting to give information thereof to the commanding officer of 
the nearest post of the United States, shall be considered as parties in such war, and be pun- 
ished accordingly : and the United States shall, in like manner, inform the Shawanees of 
any injury designed against them. 

Art. 5. The United States do grant peace to the Shawanee nation, and do receive them 
into their friendship and protection. 

Art. 6. The United States do allot to the Shawanee nation, lands within their territory 
to live and hunt upon, beginning at the south line of the lands allotted to the Wyandot and 
Delaware nations, at the place where the main branch of the Great Miami, which falls 
into the Ohio, intersects said line ; then down the river Miami, to the fork of that river, 
next below the old fort which was taken by the French in one thousand seven hundred and 
fifty-two ; thence due west to the river de la Pause ; then down that river to the River 
Wabash ; beyond which lines none of the citizens of the United States shall settle, nor dis- 
turb the Shawanees in their settlement and possessions. And the Shawanees do relinquish 
to the United States, all title, or pretence of title, they ever had to the lands east, west, and 
south, of the east, west, and south lines before described. 

Art. 7. If any citizen or citizens of the United States, shall presume to settle upon the 
lands allotted to the Shawanees by this treaty, he or they shall be put out of the protection 
of the United States. 

In testimony whereof, the parties hereunto have affixed their hands and seals' the day 
and year first above mentioned. 

WITNESSES : G. Clark, 

W. Finney, Maj. B. B. Richard Butler, 

Thos. Doyle, Capt- B. B. Saml. H. Parsons, 

Nathan McDowell, Ensign, Aweecony, his x mark, 

John Saffenger, Kakawipilathy, his x mark, 

Henry Govy, Malunthy, his mark, 

Kagy Galloway, his x mark, Musquauconocah, his x mark, 

John Boggs, Meanymsecah, his x mark, 

Sam. Montgomery, Waupaucowela, his x mark, 

Daniel Elliott, Nihipeewa, his mark, 

James Rinker, Nihinessicoe, his x mark, 

Nathl. Smith, Attest. Alexander Campbell, Sec'ry Com'rs. 

Tetebockshicka, his x mark, 
Isaac Zane, (Wyandot) his x mark. 
The Half King of the Wyandots,) x 

The Crane of the Wyandots, J ^ 

Capt. Pipe, of the Delawares, his x mark, 
Capt. Bohongehelas, his x mark, 
Joseph Suffrein, his x mark, or Kemepemo Shawno, 
The Big Cat of the Delawares, his x mark, 
Pierre Droullar. 



APPENDIX. 441 

D— rage 22L 
ORDINANCE OF JULY 13, 1787. 

An Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the 
river Ohio. 

Be it ordained by tlic United States in Congress assembled, That the said territory, for 
the purposes of temporary government, be one district ; subject, liovvever, to be divided into 
two districts, as future circumstances may, in the opinion of Congress, make it expedient. 

Be it ordained by tlie autliority aforesaid, That tlie estates both of resident and nonresi- 
dent proprietors in the said territory, dying intestate, shall descend to, and be distributed 
among their children, and the descendants of a deceased child, in equal parts ; the descend- 
ants of a deceased child or grand child to take the share of their deceased parent in equal 
parts among them : and where there shall be no children or descendants, then in equal 
parts to the next of kin, in equal degree; and among collaterals, the children of a de- 
ceased brother or sister of the intestate shall have, in equal parts among them, their de- 
ceased parents' share ; and there shall, in no case, be a distinction between kindred of the 
whole and half blood; saving in all cases to the widow of the intestate, her third part of 
the real estate for life, and one third part of the personal estate; and this law relative to 
descents and dower, shall remain in full force until altered by the legislature of the district. 
And until the governor and judges shall adopt laws as hereinafter mentioned, estates in 
the said territory may be devised or bequeathed by wills in writing, signed and sealed by 
him or her, in whom the estate may be, (being of full age,) and attested by three witnes- 
ses; and real estates may be conveyed by lease and release, or bargain and sale, signed, 
sealed and delivered, by the person, being of full age, in whom the estate may be, and 
attested by two witnesses, provided such wills be duly proved, and such conveyances be 
acknowledged, or the execution thereof duly proved, and be recorded within one year after 
proper magistrates, courts and registers shall be appointed for that purpose ; and personal 
property may be transferred by delivery ; saving, however, to the French and Canadian 
inhabitants, and other settlers of the Kaskaskias, Saint Vincnts, and the neighboring 
villages, who have heretofore professed themselves citizens of Virginia, their laws and 
customs, now in force among them, relative to the descent and conveyance of property. 

Be it ordained by the authority aforesaid, Tliat there shall be appointed, from time to 
time, by Congress, a governor, whose commission shall continue in force for the term of 
three years, unless sooner revoked by Congress : he shall reside in the district and have a 
freehold estate therein, in one thousand acres of land, while in the exercise of his office. 

There shall be appointed, from time to time, by Congress, a secretary, whose commis- 
sion shall continue in force for four years, unless sooner revoked ; he shall reside in the 
district and have a freehold estate therein, in five hundred acres of land, while in the exer- 
cise of his office ; it shall be his duty to keep and preserve the acts and laws passed by the 
legislature, and the public records of the district, and the proceedings of the governor in 
his executive department; and transmit authentic copies of such acts and proceedings, ev- 
ery six months, to the secretary of Congress: There shall also be appointed a court, to 
consist of three judges, any two of whom to form a court, who shall have a common law 
jurisdiction, and reside in the district, and have each therein a freehold estate, in five hun- 
dred acres of land, while in the exercise of their offices; and their commissions shall con- 
tinue in force during good behavior. 

The governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall adopt and publish in the district, 
such laws of the original states, criminal and civil, as may be necessary, and best suited to 
the circumstairces of the district, and report them to Congress, from time to time , which 

56 



442 APPENDIX. 

laws eball be In force In the district, until ilie organization of the general aBsembly tlicrein, 
unless disapproved of by Congress ; but afterwards the legislature shall have authority to 
alter them as they shall think fit. 

The governor for the time being, shall be commander in chief of the militia, appoint and 
commission all officers in the same, below the rank of general officers; all general officers 
shall be appointed and commissioned by Congress. 

Previous to the organization of the general assembly, the governor shall appoint such 
magistrates and other civil officers, in each county or township, as he shall find necessary 
for the preservation of the peace and good order in the same. After the general assembly 
shall be organized, the powers and duties of magistrates and other civil officers shall he 
regulated and defined by the said assembly; hut all magistrates and other civil officers not 
herein otherwise directed, shall, during the continuance of this temporary government, be 
oppointed by the governor. 

For the prevention of crimes and injuries, the laws to be adopted or made shall have 
force in all parts of the district, and for the execution of process, criminal and civil, the 
governor shall make proper divisions thereof; and he shall proceed from time to time, as 
circumstances may require, to lay out the parts of the district in which the Indian titles 
shall have been e.xtinguished, into counties and townships, subject, however, to such alter, 
ations as may thereafter be made by the legislature. 

So soon as there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants, of full age, in the district, 
opon giving proof thereof to the governor, they shall receive authority, with time and 
place, to elect representatives from their counties or townships, to represent them in the 
general assembly ; provided that, for every five hundred free male inhabitants, there shall 
be one representative, and so on, progressively, with the number of free male inhabitants, 
shall the right of representation increase, until the number of representatives shall amount 
to twenty-five ; after which the number and proportion of representatives shall be regula. 
ted by the legislature ; provided, that no person be eligible or qualified to act as a reprcsen. 
tative unless he shall have been a citizen of one of the United States three years, and be a 
resident in the district, or unless he shall have resided in the district three years; and in 
either case, shall likewise hold in his own right, in fee simple, two hundred acres of land 
within the same ; provided also, that a freehold in fifty acres of land in the district, having 
been a citizen of one of the states, and being resident in the district, or the like freehold 
and two years residence in the district, shall be necessary to qualify a man as an elector 
of a representative. 

The representatives thus elected, shall serve for the term of two years; and in case of 
the death of a representative, or removal from office, the governor shall issue a writ to the 
county or township for which he was a member, to elect another in his stead, to serve for 
the residue of the term. 

The general assembly, or legislature, shall consist of the governor, legislative council, 
and a house of representatives. The legislative council shall consist of five members, to 
continue in office five years, unless sooner removed by Congress ; any three of whom to be 
a quorum : and the members of the council shall be nominated and appointed in the fol- 
lowing manner, to wit . As soon as representatives shall be elected, the governor shall ap- 
point a time and place for them to meet together, and when met, they shall nominate ten 
persons, residents in the district, and each possessed of a freehold in five hundred acres of 
land, and return their names lo Congress ; five of whom Congress shall appoint and com- 
missiou to serve as aforesaid : and whenever a vacancy shall happen in the council, by 
death or removal from office, the house of representatives shall nominate two persons, 
qualified ae aforesaid, for each vacancy, and return their names to Congress ; one of whom 
Congrew shall appoint and commission for the residueof the term : And every five years, 



APPENDIX. 443 

four months at leaat before tie expiration of the time of service of the members of council, 
the said house slia!! nominate ten persons, qualified as aforesaid, and return ihetr names 
to Congress ; five of whom Congress sliall appoint ami commission to serve as members of 
the council five years, unless sooner removed. And tlic governor, legislative council, aaA 
bouse of representatives shall have authority to make laws, in all cases, for the good gov- 
ernment of the district, not repugnant to the principles and articles in this ordinance estab- 
lished and declared. And all bills, having passed by a majority in the house, and by a 
majority in the council, shall be referred to the governor for his assent ; but no bill or legis- 
lative act whatever, shall be of any force without his assent. The governor shall havo 
power to convene, prorogue, and dissolve, the general assembly, when in liis opinion it 
shall be expedient. 

The governor, judges, legislative council, secretary, and such other officers as Congress 
shall appoint in the district, shall take an oath or affirmation of fidelity, and of office; the 
governor before the president of Congress, and all other officers before the governor. Aa 
soon as a legislature shall be formed in the district, the council and house assembled, in 
one room, shall have authority, by joint ballot, to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall 
have a seat in Congress, with a riglit of debating, but not of voting during this temporary 
government. 

And for extending the fundamental principles of civil -md religious liberty, which form 
the basis whereon these republics, their laws, and constitutions, are erected ; to fix and 
establish those principles as th.e basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments, which 
forever hereafter shall be formed in the said territory ; to provide, also, for the establish- 
ment of states, and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in 
the federal councils on an equal footing with tlie original states, at as early a period as 
may be consistent with the general interest : 

It is hereby ordained and declared, by the aathority aforesaid, That the following artl- 
cles shall be considered as articles of compact, between the ori'^inal states and the peopla 
and states in the said territory, and forever remain unalterable, unless by common con- 
sent, to wit : 

Art. 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever 
be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments, in the said territory. 

Art. 2. The inhabitants of the said territory shall always be entitled to the benefits of 
the writ of habeas corpus, and of the trial by jury ; of a proportionate representation of 
the people in the legislature, and of judicial proceedings according to the course of the 
common law. All persons shall be bailable, unless for capital offences, where the proof 
shall be evident or the presumption great. All fines shall be moderate ; and no cruel or 
unusual punishments sl;all be inflicted. No man shall be deprived of his liberty or prop- 
erty, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land, and should the public exigen- 
cies make it necessary, for the common preservation, to take any person's property, or to 
demand his particular services, full compensation shall be made for the same. And, in the 
just preservation of rights and property, it is understood and declared that no law ought 
ever to be made, or have force in the said territory, that shall, in any manner whatever. 
Interfere with, or aff"ect, private contracts or engagement?, bona fide, and without fraud, 
previously formed. 

Art. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and 
the happiness of mankind, schools and the mc.ins of education shall forever be encouraged. 
The utmost good faith shall olways be observed towards the Indiana ; their lands and pro. 
party shall never bo taken from ihcm without their consent ; and in their property, rights, 
and liberty, they never shall be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful ware au 
thorizcd by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity ihall, from tim« to tims. 



444 APPENDIX, 

be made, for preventing wrongs being done to tliem, and for preserving peace and friend 
ship with them. 

Art. 4. The said territory, and the states which may be formed therein, shall forever 
remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the articles 
of confederation, and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made ; and to 
all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable there- 
to. The inhabitants and settlers in the said territory shall be subject to pay a part of the 
federal debts, contracted or to be contracted, and a proportional part of the expenses of 
government, to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule 
and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other states; and the 
taxes for paying their proportion, shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of 
the legislatures of the district or districts, or new states, as in the original states, within 
the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. The legislatures of 
those districts, or new states, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by 
the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Congress may find ne. 
cessary, lor securing the title in such soil, to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be 
imposed on lands the property of the United States; and in no case shall nonresident pro- 
prietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi 
and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between tlie same, shall be common highways, 
and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory, as to the citizens of the 
United States, and those of any other states that may he admitted into the confederacy, 
without any tax, impost, or duty therefor. 

Art. 5, There shall be formed in the said territory not less than three, nor more than 
five states; and the boundaries of the states, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of ces. 
sion,and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit: the 
western state in the said territory, shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and Wa- 
bash rivers ; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post Vincents, due north, to the 
territorial line between the United States and Canada; and by the said territorial line to 
the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle states shall be bounded by the said 
direct line, the Wabash, from Post Vincents to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line 
drawn due north from tlie mouth of the Great Miami to the said territorial line, and by 
the said territorial line. The eastern state shall be bounded by the last mentioned direct 
line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said territorial line : provided, however, and it is 
further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three states shall be subject 
so far to be altered, that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have au- 
thority to form one or two states in that part of the said territory which lies north of an 
east and west line drawn through tlie southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And 
whenever any of the said states shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, such 
state shall be admitted, by its delegates, into the Congress of the United States, on an 
equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatever ; and shall be at liberty 
to form a permanent constitution and state government ; provided the constitution and 
government, so to be formed, shall be republican, and in conformity to the principles con- 
tained in tliese articles; and, so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the 
confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there may be 
a less number of free inhabitants in tl.e state tliau sixty thousand. 

Art. 6. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, 
otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly con- 
victed : provided always, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or 
service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original states, sucli fugitive may be lawfully 
reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service, as aforesaid. 



APPENDIX. 445 

Be it ordained by the autlioiity aforesaid, That the resolutions of the 23d of April, 1784, 
relative to the subject of this ordinance, be, and the same are hereby repealed and declared 
null and void. Done, &c. 



E— Page 236. 



TREATIES AT FORT HARMAR. 

WITH THE SIX NATIONS. 

Articles of a treaty made at Fort Harmar, the ninth day of January, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, between Arthur St. Clair, esquire, 
governor of the territory of the United States of America, nortliwest of the river Ohio, 
and commissioner plenipotentiary of the said United States, for removing all causes of 
controversy, regulating trade, and settling boundaries, between the Indian nations in the 
northern department and the said United States, of the one part, and the sachems and 
warriors of the Six Nations, of the other part, viz . 

Art. 1. Whereas the United States, in Congress assembled, did, by their commissioners, 
Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee, esquires, duly appointed for that purpose, 
at a treaty held with the said Six Nations, viz: witli the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, 
Tuscaroras, Cayugas, and Senekas, at Fort Stanwix, on the twenty-second day of October 
one thousand seven hundred and eighty .four, give peace to the said nations, and receive 
them into their friendship and protection : And whereas the said nations have now agreed 
to and with tlie said Arthur St. Clair, to renew and confirm all the engagements and stip- 
ulations entered into at the beforementioned treaty at Fort Stanwix : and whereas, it was 
then and there agreed, between the United States of America and the said Six Nations, 
that a boundary line should be fixed between the lands of the said Six Nations and the 
territory of the said United States, which boundary line is as follows, viz : Beginning at 
the mouth of a creek, about four miles east of Niagara, called Ononwayea, or Johnston's 
Landing Place, upon the lake named by the Indians Oswego, and by us Ontario ; from 
thence southerly, in a direction always four miles east of the carrying place, between Lake 
Erie and Lake Ontario, to the mouth of Tehoseroron, or Buffalo creek, upon Lake Erie : 
thence south, to the northern boundary of the state of Pennsylvania ; thence west, to the 
end of the said north boundary ; thence south, along the west boundary of the said state to 
the river Ohio. The said line, from the mouth of Ononwayea to the Ohio, shall be the 
western boundary of tlic lands of the Six Nations, so that the Six Nations shall and do 
yield to the United States, all claim to the country west of tlio said boundary ; and then 
they shall he secured in the possession of the lands they inhabit cast, north, and south of 
the same, reserving only six miles square, round the fort of Oswego, for the support of the 
same. The said Six Nations, except the Mohawks, none of whom have attended at this 
time, for and in consideration of the peace then granted to them, the presents they then 
received, as well as in consideration of a quantity of goods, to the value of three thousand 
dollars, now delivered to them by the said Arthur St. Clair, the receipt whereof they do 
hereby acknowledge, do hereby renew and confirm the said boundary line in the words 
beforementioned, to the end that it may be and remain as a division line between the lands 
of the said Six Nations and the territory of the United States, forever. And the under- 
signed Indians, as well in their own names as in the name of their respective tribes and 
nations, their heirs and descendants, for the considerations beforementioned, do release, 
quit claim, relinqui.sh, and cede, to the United States of America, all the lands west of the 



446 "* APPENDIX. 

Bald bo>indary or division line, and between the said line and the strait, from the mouth 
of Ononwayea and Buffalo creek, for them, the said United States of America, to have 
and to hold the same in true and absolute propriety, forever. 

Art. 2. Tlie United States of America confirm to the Six Nations, all the lands which 
they inhabit, lying eaet and north of the beforementioned boundary line, and relinquish 
and quit claim to the same and every part thereof, excepting only six miles square round 
the fort of Oswego, which six miles square round said fort is again reserved to the United 
States by these presents. 

Art. 3. The Oneida and Tuscarora nations are also again secured and confirmed in the 
possession of their respective lands. 

Art. 4. The United States of America renew and confirm the peace and friendship en- 
tered into with the Six Nations, (except the Moiiawks,) at the treaty beforementioned, held 
at Fort Stanwix, declaring the same to be perpetual. And if the Mohawks shall, within 
six months, declare their assent to the same, they shall be considered as included. 
Done at Fort Harmar, on the Muskingum, the day and year first above written. 
In witness wliereof, the parties have hereunto, interchangeably, set their hands and seals. 

Ar. St. Clair, 

Cageaga, or Dogs round the Fire, 
Sawedowa, or The Blast, 
Kiondushowa, or Swimming Fish, 
Oncahye, or Dancing Feather, 
Sohaeas, or Falling Mountain, 
Otachsaka, or Broken Tomahawk, his x mark, 
Tckahias, or Long Tree, his x mark, 
Onechsetee, or Loaded Man, his x mark, 
Kiahtulaho, or Snake, 
Aqueia, or Bandy Legs, 
Kiandogewa, or Big Tree, his x mark, 
Owenewa, or Thrown in the Water, his x mark, 
Gyantwaia, or Cornplanter, his x mark, 
Gyasota, or Big Cross, his x mark, 
Kanassee, or New Arrow, 
Achiout, or Half Town, 
Anachout, or The Wasp, his x mark, 
Chishekoa, or Wood Bug, his x mark, 
Sessewa, or Big Bale of a Kettle, 
Sciahowa, or Council Keeper, 
Twanias, or Broken Twig, 
Sonachshowa, or Full Moon, 
Cachunwasse. or Twenty Canoes, 
IN PRESENCE OP Hickonquash, or Tearing Assunder. 

Jos. Harmar, lieut, col. comdg. 1st U. S. Regiment, jind brig. gen. by brevet. 
Richard Butler, 
Jno. Gibson, 
Will. M'Curdy, captain, 
Ed. Denny, ensign, Ist U. S. Regiment, 
A. Hartshorn, ensign, 

Robt. Thompson, ensign, 1st U. S. Regiment, 
Fran. Leile, ensign, 
Josep Nicholai. *" 



APPENDIX. 447 



SEPARATE ARTICLE OF THE NEXT PRECEDING TREATY. 

Should a robbery or murder be committed by an Indian or Indians of the Six Nations, 
upon the citizens or subjects of the United States, or by the citizens or subjects of the Uni- 
ted States, or any of them, upon any of the Indians of the said nations, the parties accused 
of the same shall be tried, and if found ^'uilty, be punished according to the laws of the 
state, or of the territory of the United States, as the case may be, where the same was 
committed. And should any horses be stolen, either by the Indians of the said nations, 
from the citizens or subjects of tlie United States, or any of them, or by any of the said 
citizens or subjects from any of the said Indians, they may be reclaimed into whose posses- 
sion soever they may have come; and, upon due proof, shall be restored, any sale in open 
market notwithstanding ; and the persons convicted shall be punished witli the utmost se- 
verity the laws will admit. And the said nations engage to deliver the persons that may 
be accused, of their nations, of either of the beforementioned crimes, at the nearest post of 
the United States, if the crime was committed within the territory of the United States ; or 
to the civil authority of the state, if it shall have happened within any of the United States. 

AR. ST. CLAIR, 



WITH THE WYANDOTS, &C. 

Articles of a treaty made at Fort Harraar, between Arthur St. Clair, governor of the terri- 
tory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and commissioner plenipotentiary 
of the United States of America, for removing all causes of controversy, regulating trade 
and settling boundaries, with the Indian nations in the northern department, of the one 
part; and tlie sachems and warriors of the Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa, Chippewa, 
Pattawatiraa, and Sac nations, on the other part. 

Art. 1. Whereas, the United States in Congress assembled, did, by their commissioners, 
George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, esquires, duly appointed for that 
purpose, at a treaty holden with the Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa, and Chippewa nations, 
at Fort M'Intosh, on the twenty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
seven hundred and eighty-five, conclude a peace with the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, 
and Chippewas, and take them into their friendship and protection : And whereas, at the 
said treaty, it was stipulated that all prisoners that had been made by those nations, or 
either of them, should be delivered up to the United States. And whereas the said nations 
have now agreed to, and with the aforesaid Arthur St. Clair, to renew and confirm all the 
engagements they had made with the United States of America, at the beforementioned 
treaty, e.xcept so far as are altered by these presents. And there are now in the possession 
of some individuals of these nations, certain prisoners, who have been taken by others not 
in peace with the said United States, or in violation of the treaties subsisting between the 
United States and them ; the said nations agree to deliver up all the prisoners now in their 
hands (by what means soever they may have come into their possession) to the said gov- 
ernor St. Clair, at Fort Ilarmar ; or, in his absence, to the ofliccr commanding tliere, as 
BOon as conveniently may be ; and for the true performance of this agreement, they do now 
agree to deliver into his hands, two persons of the Wyandot nation, to be retained in the 
hands of the United States as hostages, until the said prisoners are restored ; after which 
they shall be sent back to their nation. 

Art. 2. And whereas, at the beforementioned treaty, it was agreed between the United 
Stales and said nations, that a boundary line should be fixed between tlie lands of those 
nations and the territory of the United States, which boundary is as follows, viz : Beginning 



448 APPENDIX. 

at tlie mouth of Cayahoga river, and runniii? thence up the said river to the portage be- 
tween that and the Ti'scarawa branch of Muskingum, then down the said branch to the 
forks at the crossing place above Fort Lawrence, tlience westerly to the portage on that 
branch of the Big Miami river which runs into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch the 
fort stood wliich was taken by the French in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hun- 
dred and fifty-two, then along the said portage to the Great Miami or Omie river, and 
down the southeast side of the same to its mouth ; thence along the southern shore of Lake 
Erie to the mouth of Cayahoga, where it began. And the said Wyandot, Delaware, Otta- 
wa, and Chippewa nations, for and in consideration of the peace then granted to them by 
the said United States, and the presents they then received, as well as of a quantity of 
goods to the value of six thousand dollars, now delivered to them by the said Arthur St. 
Clair, the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge, do, by these presents, renew and 
confirm the said boundary line ; to the end that the same may remain as a division line 
between the lands of the United States of America and the lands of said nations, forever. 
And the undersigned Indians do hereby, in their own names, and the names of their re- 
spective nations and tribes, their heirs and descendants, for the consideration above men- 
tioned, release, quit claim, relinquish, and cede to the said United States, all the land east, 
south, and west, of the lines above described, so far as the said Indians formerly claimed 
the same ; for them the said United States to have and to hold the same, in true and abso- 
lute propriety, forever. 

Art. 3. The Uuited States of America do, by these presents, relinquish and quit claim 
to the said nations respectively, all the lands lying between the limits above described, for 
them, the said Indians, to live and hunt upon, and otherwise to occupy as they shall see 
fit ; but the said nations, or either of them, shall not be at liberty to sell or dispose of the 
same, or any part thereof, to any sovereign power, except the United States; nor to the 
subjects or citizens of any other sovereign power, nor to the subjects or citizens of the 
United Slates. 

Art. 4. It is agreed between the said United States and the said nations, that the indi- 
viduals of said nations shall be at liberty to hunt within the territory ceded to the United 
States, without hindrance or molestation, so long as they demean themselves peaceably. 
and offer no injury or annoyance to any of the subjects or citizens of the said United 
States. 

Art. 5. It is agreed, that, if any Indian or Indians, of the nations beforeraentioncd, 
shall commit a murder or robbery on any of the citizens of the United States, the nation or 
tribe to which the offender belongs, on complaint being made, shall deliver up the person 
or persons complained of, at the nearest post of the United States ; to the end that he or 
they may be tried, and, if found guilty, punished according to the laws established in the 
territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, for the punishment of such 
offences, if the same shall have been committed within the said territory ; or according to 
the laws of the state where the offence may have been committed, if the same has happened 
in any of the United States. In like manner, if any subject or citizen of the United States 
shall commit umrder or robbery, on any Indian or Indians of the said nations, upon com. 
plaint being made thereof, he or they shall be arrested, tried, and punished agreeable to 
the laws of the state, or of the territory wlierein the offence was committed; that nothing 
may interrupt the peace and harmony now established between the United States and 
said nations. 

Art. 6. And whereas the practice of stealing horses has prevailed very much, to the 
great disquiet of the citizens of the United States, and, if persisted in, cannot fail to in. 
volve both the United States of America and the Indians in endless animosity, it is agreed 
that it shall be put an entire stop to on both sides; nevertheless, should some individuals. 



APPENDIX. 449 

in defiance ol' tliis agreement, and of the laws provided against such ofienccs, continue to 
make depredations of that nature, the person convicted thereof shall be punished with the 
utmost severity the laws of the respective states, or territory of the United States north- 
west of the Ohio, where the offence may have been committed, will admit of: and all 
horses so stolen, either by the Indians from the citizens or subjects of the United States, 
or by the citizens or subjects of the United States from any of the Indian nations, may be 
reclaimed, into whose possession soever they may have passed, and, upon due proof, shall 
be restored ; any sales in market ouvert, notwithstanding. And the civil magistrates in 
the United States respectively, and in the territory of the United States northwest of the 
Ohio, shall give all necessary aid and protection to Indians claiming such stolen horses. 

Art. 7. Trade shall be opened with the said nations, and they do hereby respectively 
engage to afford protection to the persons and property of such as may be duly licensed to 
reside among them for the purposes of trade, and to their agents, factors, and servants ; 
but no person shall be permitted to reside at their towns, or at their hunting camps, as a 
trader, who is not furnished with a license for that purpose, under the hand and seal of the 
governor of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio, for the time being, 
or under the hand and seal of one of his deputies for the management of Indian affaire; 
to the end that they may not be imposed upon in their traffic. And if any person or per- 
sons shall intrude themselves without such license, they promise to apprehend him or them, 
and to bring them to the said governor, or one of his deputies, for the purpose before men- 
tioned, to be dealt with according to law ; and that they may be defended against persona 
who might attempt to forge such licenses, they further engage to give information to the 
said governor, or one of his deputies, of the names of all traders residing among them, 
from time to time, and at least once in every year. 

Art. 8. Should any nation of Indians meditate a war against the United Slates, or 
either of them, and the same shall come to the knowledge of the before mentioned nations, 
or either of them, they do hereby engage to give immediate notice thereof to the governor, 
or, in his absence, to the officer commanding the troops of the United States at the nearest 
post. And should any nation, with hostile intentions against the United States, or either 
of them, attempt to pass through their country, they will endeavor to prevent the same, 
and in like manner give information of such attempt to the said governor or commanding 
officer, as soon as possible, that all causes of mistrust and suspicion maybe avoided between 
them and the United Slates: in like manner, the United States shall give notice to the said 
Indian nations, of any harm that may be meditated against them, or either of them, that 
shall come to their knowledge; and do all in their power to hinder and prevent the same, 
that the friendship between them may be uninterrupted. 

Art. 9. If any person or persons, citizens or subjects of the United States, or any other 
person not being an Indian, shall presume to settle upon the lands confirmed to the said 
nations, he and they shall be out of the protection of the United States , and the said na- 
tions may punish him or them in such manner as they see fit. 

Art. 10. The United States renew the reservations heretofore made in the before men- 
tioned treaty at fort M'Intosh, for the establishment of trading posts, in manner and form 
following ; that is to say : six miles square at the mouth of the Miami or Omie rivers ; six 
miles square at the portage upon that branch of the Miami which runs into the Ohio; six 
miles square upon the lake Sandusky, where the fort formerly stood ; and two miles square 
upon each side the Lower Rapids, on Sandusky river ; which posts, and the lands annexed 
to thena, shall be for the use and under the government of the United States. 

Art. 11. The post at Detroit, with a district of land beginning at the mouth of the river 
Rosine, at the west end of lake Erie, and running up the southern bank of said river sfx 
miles; thence northerly, and always six miles west of the strait, until it strikes the lake 
Ht. Clair, shall be reserved for the use of the United States. 

57 



450 APPENDIX. 

Art. 12. In like manner, the post at Michilimackinac, with its dependencies, and 
twelve miles square about the same, shall be reserved to the sole use of the United States. 

Art. 13. The United States of America do hereby renew and confirm the peace and 
friendship entered into with the said nations, at the treaty before mentioned, held at Fort 
M'Intosh ; and the said nations again acknowledge themselves, and all their tribes, to be 
under the protection of the said United States, and no other power whatever. 

Art. 14. The United States of America do also receive into their friendship and pro- 
tection, the nations of Pattawatimas and Sacs; and do hereby establish a league of peace 
and amity between them respectively ; and all the articles of this treaty, so far as they 
apply to these nations, are to be considered as made and concluded in all, and every part, 
expressly with them and each of them. 

Art, 15. And whereas, in describing the boundary before mentioned, the words, if 
strictly constructed, would carry it from the portage on that branch of the Miami which 
runs into the Ohio, over to the river Auglaize ; which was neither the intention of the In. 
dians, nor of the commissioners; it is hereby declared, that the line shall run from the said 
portage directly to the first fork of the Miami river, which is to the southward and east, 
ward of the Miami village, thence down the main branch of the Miami river to the said 
village, and thence down that river to lake Erie, and along the margin of the lake to the 
place of beginning. 

Done at Fort Harmar, on the Muskingum, this ninth day of January, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty. nine. 

In witness whereof, the parties have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals. 



Ar. St, Clair, l. s. 



Dclawares. 

Captain Pipe, his x mark, 

Peoutewatamie, his x mark, Wingenond, his x mark, 

Konatikina, his x mark, Pekelan, his x mark, 

Teataway, his x mark. 
Sacs. 

Tepakee, his x mark, Chippewas. 

Kesheyiva, his x mark, Nanamakeak, his x mark, 

Wetenasa, his x mark, 



Chippewas. 
Mesass, hia x mark, 
Paushquash, his x mark, 
Pawasicko, his x mark, Wyandots. 



Soskene, his x mark, 
Pewanakum, his x mark. 



Teyandatontec, his x mark, 
Cheyawe, his x mark, 
Doueyenteat, his x mark, 
Tarhe, his x mark, 
Pattawatimas. Terhataw, his x mark. 



Ottawas. 
Wewiskia, his x mark, 
Neagey, hia x mark, 



Windigo, his x mark, Datasay, his x mark, 

Wapaskca, his x mark, Maudoronk, his x mark, 

Nequea, his x mark, Skahomat, his x mark. 

IN PRESENCE OF 

Jos. Harmar, Lieut. Col, Com't. first U. S. Reg't. and Brig. Gen. by brevet. 

Richard Butler, 

Jno. Gibson, 

Will. M'Curdy, Capt. 

E. Denny, Ens. first U. S. Reg't. J. Williams, jun: 

A. Hartshorn, Ensign, William Wilson, 

Robt. Thompson, Ensign first U. S. Reg't. Joseph Nicholas, 

Frans. Lusc, Ensign, James Rinken: 



APPENDIX. 451 

Be it remembered, "that tlie Wyandots have laid claim to the lands that were granted to 
the Shawanees at the treaty held at the Miami ; and liave declared, that as the Sbawanees 
have been so restless, and caused so much trouble, botli to them and the United States, if 
they will not now be at peace, they will dispossess tliem, and take the country into their 
own hands ; for that the country is theirs of right, and the Slia wanees are only living upon 
it by their permission. They furtlier lay claim to all tlic country west of the Miami bound, 
ary, from the village to the lake Erie, and declare that it is now under their management 
and direction. 

SEPARATE ARTICLE. 

Whereas the Wyandots have represented, that within the reservation from the river 
Rosine, along the strait, they have two villages from which they cannot, with any conve- 
nience remove ; it is agreed, that they shall remain in possession of the same, and shall not 
be in any manner disturbed therein. 



F— Page 393. 

TREATY OF GREENVILLE. 

A treaty of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians called 
the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pattawatimas, Miamis, Eel 
Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws. and Kaskaskias. 

To put an end to a destructive war, to settle all controver.sies, and to restore harmony 
and friendly intercourse between the said United States and Indian tribes, Anthony Wayne, 
Major General, commanding the army of the United States, and sole commissioner for the 
good purposes above mentioned, and the said tribes of Indians, by their sachems, cliiefs, and 
warriors, met together at Greenville, the head quarters of the said army, have agreed on the 
following articles, which, when ratified by tlie president, with the advice and consent of 
the senate of the United States, shall he binding on them and the said Indian tribes. 

Art. 1. Henceforth all hostilities shall cease ; peace is hereby established, and shall be 
perpetual ; and a friendly intercourse shall take place between the said United States and 
Indian tribes. 

Art. 2. AH prisoners shall, on both sides, be restored. The Indians, prisoners to the 
United States, shall be immediately set at liberty. The people of the United States, still 
remaining prisoners among the Indians, shall be delivered up in ninety days from the date 
hereof, to the general or commanding ofiicer at Greenville, Fort Wayne, or Fort Defiance, 
and ten chiefs of the said tribes shall remain at Greenville as hostages, until the delivery of 
the prisoners shall be effected. 

Art. 3. The general boundary line between the lands of the United States and the lands 
of the said Indian tribes, shall begin at the mouth of Cayahoga river, and run thence up the 
same to the portage, between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, tlience 
down that branch to the crossing place above Fort Lawrence, thence westerly to a fork of 
that branch of the great Miami river, running into the Ohio, at or near which fork stood 
Loromie's store, and where commences the portage between the Miami of the Ohio, and 
St. Mary's river, which is a branch of the Miami wliich runs into lake Erie; thence a 
westerly course to Fort Recovery, wliich stands on a brancli of the Wabash ; thence south- 
westerly in a direct line to the Ohio, so as to intersect that river opposite the mouth of 
Kentucke or Cuttawa river. And in consideration of the peace now established; of the 
goods formerly received from the U.nited States; of those now to be delivered ; and of the 



452 APPENDIX. 

yearly delivery of goods now stipulated to be ninde liereafter; and to indemnify the United 
States for the injuries and expenses they have sustained during the war, the said Indian 
tribes do hereby cede and relinquish forever, all their claims to the lands lying eastwardly 
and southwardly of the general boundary line now described; and these lands, or any part 
of them, shall never hereafter be made a cause or pretence, on the part of the said tribes, 
or any of them, of war or injury lo the United States, or any of the people thereof. 

And for the same considerations, and as an evidence of the returning friendship of the 
said Indian tribes, of their confidence in the United States, and desire to provide for their 
accommodation, and for that convenient intercourse which will be beneficial to both par- 
ties, the said Indian tribes do also cede to the United States the following pieces of land, 
to- wit : 1. One piece of land six miles square, at or near Loromie's store, before mention- 
ed. 2. One piece two miles square, at the head of the navigable water or landing, on the 
St. Mary's river, near Girty's town. 3. One piece si.x miles square, at the head of the navi- 
gable water of the Auglaize river. 4. One piece six miles square, at the confluence of the 
Auglaize and Miami rivers, where Fort Defiance now stands. 5. One piece six miles square, 
at or near the confluence of the rivers St. Mary's and St. Joseph's, where Fort Wayne now 
stands, or near it. 6. One piece two miles square, on the Wabash river, at the end of the 
portage from the Miami of the lake, and about eiglit miles westward from Fort Wayne. ?• 
One piece six miles square, at the Ouatanon, or old Wea towns, on the Wabash river. 
8. One piece twelve miles square, at the British fort on the Miami of the lake, at the foot 
of the rapids. 9. One piece six miles square, at the mouth of the said river, where it emp- 
ties into the lake. 10. One piece six miles square, upon Sandusky lake, where a fort for- 
merly stood. 11. One piece two miles square, at the lower rapids of Sandusky river. 12. 
The post of Detroit, and all the land to the north, the west, and the south of it, of which 
the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English govern, 
ments : and so much more land to be annexed to the district of Detroit, as shall be compre. 
bended between the river Rosine, on the south, lake St. Clair on the north, and a line, the 
general course whereof shall be six miles distant from the west end of lake Erie and De- 
troit river. 13. The post of Michilimackinac, and all the land on the island on which that 
post stands, and the main land adjacent, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by 
gifts or grants to the French or English governments: and a piece of land on the main to 
the north of the island, to measure six miles, on lake Huron, or the strait between lakes 
Huron and Michigan, and to extend three miles back from the water of the lake or strait ; 
and also, the island De Bois Blanc, being an extra and voluntary gift of the Chippewa na- 
tion. 14. One piece of land six miles square, at the mouth of Chikago river, emptying into 
the southwest end of lake Michigan, where a fort formerly stood. 15. One piece twelve 
miles square, at or near the mouth of the Illinois river, emptying into the JNIississippi. 16. 
One piece six miles square, at the old Piorias fort and village, near the south end of the 
Illinois lake, on said Illinois river. And whenever the United States shall think proper to 
survey and mark the boundaries of the lands hereby ceded to them, they shall give timely 
notice thereof to the said tribes of Indians, that they may appoint some of their wise chiefs 
to attend and see that the lines are run according to the terms of this treaty. 

And the said Indian tribes will allow to the people of the United Slates a free passage by 
land and by water, as one and the other shall be found convenient, through their country, 
along the chain of posts hereinbefore mentioned ; that is to say, from the commencement of 
the portage aforesaid, at or near Loromie's store, thence along said portage to the Saint 
Mary's, and down the same to Fort Wayne, and then dovi-n the Miami to lake Erie; again, 
from the commencement of the portage at or near Loromie's store along the portage from 
thence to the river Auglaize, and down the same to its junction with the Miami at Fort 
Defiance ; again, from the commencement of the portage aforesaid, to Sandusky river, and 
down the same to Sandusky bay and lake Erie, and from Sandusky to the post which shall 



APPENDIX. 453 

be taken at or near the foot of the rapids of tlie Miami of the lake ; and fiom thence to Dc- 
trolt. Again, from the moutli of Chikago, to the commencement of the portage, between 
that river and the Illinois, and down tlie Illinois river to the Mississippi; also, from Fort 
Wayne, along the portage aforesaid, which leads to the Wabash, and then down the Wabash 
to the Ohio. And the said Indian tribes will also allow to the people of the United States, 
the free use of the harbors and mouths of rivers along the lakes adjoining the Indian lands, 
for sheltering vessels and boats, and liberty to land their cargoes where necessary for their 
safety. 

Art. 4. In consideration of the peace now established, and of tlie cessions and relin- 
quishments of lands made in the preceding article by the said tribes of Indians, and to man- 
ifest the liberality of the United States, as the great means of rendering this peace strong 
and perpetual, the United States relinquish their claims to all other Indian lands northward 
of the river Ohio, eastward of the Mississippi, and westward and southward of the Great 
Lakes and the waters uniting them, according to the boundary line agreed on by the United 
States and the king of Great Britain, in the treaty of peace made between them in the year 
1783. But from this relinquishment by the United States, the following tracts of land are 
explicitly excepted. 1st. The tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres near the rapids 
of the river Ohio, which has been assigned to General Clark, for the use of himself and his 
warriors. 2d. The post of St. Vincennes, on the river Wabash, and the lands adjacent, of 
which the Indian title has been extinguished. 3d. The lands at all other places in posses- 
sion of the French people and other white settlers among them, of which the Indian title 
has been extinguished as mentioned in the third article. And, 4th, The post of Fort Mas- 
sac towards the mouth of the Ohio. To which several parcels of land so excepted, the 
said tribes relinquish all the title and claim which they or any of them may have. 

And for the same considerations and with the same views as above mentioned, the Unit- 
ed States now aeliver to the said Indian tribes a quantity of goods to the value of twenty 
thousand dollars, the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge, and henceforward, 
every year, forever, the United States will deliver, at some convenient place northward of 
the river Ohio, like useful goods, suited to the circumstances of the Indians, of the value 
of nine thousand five hundred dollars; reckoning that value at the first cost of the goods 
in the city or place in the United States where they shall be procured. The tribes to which 
those goods are to be annually delivered, and the proportions in which they are to be de- 
livered are the following : 

1st. To the Wyandots, the amount of one thousand dollars. 2d. To the Delawarcs, the 
amount of one thousand dollars. 3d. To the Shawanees, the amount of one thousand dol- 
lars. 4tli. To the Miamis, the amount of one thousand dollars. .5th. To the Ottawas, the 
amount of one thousand dollars. 6th. To the Chippewas, the amount of one thousand dol- 
lars. 7th. To the Pottawatimas, the amount of one thousand dollars. 8th. And to the 
Kickapoo, Wea, Eel River, Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskia trihes, the amount of five hundred 
dollars each. 

Provided, that if cither of the said tribes shall hereafter, at an annual delivery of their 
.share of the goods aforesaid, desire that a part of their annuity should be furnished in do- 
mestic animals, implements of husbandry, and other utensils convenient for them, and in 
compensation to useful artificers who may reside with or near them, and be employed for 
their benefit, the same shall, at the subsequent annual deliveries, be furnished accordingly. 

Art. 5. To prevent any misunderstanding about the Indian lands relinquished by the 
United States in the 4tli article, it is now explicitly declared, that the meaning of that re- 
linquishment is this : the Indian tribes who have a right to those lands, are quietly to enjoy 
them, hunting, planting, and dwelling thereon, so long as they please, without any molesta- 
tion from the United States ; but when those tribes, or any of tlicm, shall be disposed to 
sell their lands, or any part of them, they are to be sold only to the United States; and 



454 APPENDIX. 

until such sale, the United States will protect all the said Indian tribes in the quiet enjoy- 
ment of their lands against all citizens of the United States, and against all other white 
persons who intrude upon tlie same. And the said Indian tribes again acknowledge them- 
selves to be. under the protection of the said United States, and no other power whatever. 
Art. 6. If any citizen of the United States, or any other wliite person or persons, shall 
presume to settle upon the lands now relinquished by the United States, riuch citizen or 
other person sliall be out of the protection of the United States; and the Indian tribe, on 
whose land the settlement shall be made, may drive off the settler, or punish him in such 
manner as they shall think fit; and because such settlements, made without the consent of 
the United States, will be injurious to them as well as to the Indians, the United States 
shall be at liberty to break them up, and remove and punish the settlers as they shall think 
proper, and so effect that protection of the Indian lands herein before stipulated. 

Art. 7. The said tribes of Indians parties to this treaty, shall be at liberty to hunt 
within the territory and lands which they have now ceded to the United States, without 
hindrance or molestation, so long as they demean themselves peaceably, and offer no in- 
jury to the people of the United States. 

Art. 8. Trade shall be opened with the said Indian tribes ; and they do hereby respec- 
tively engage to afford protection to such persons, with their property, as shall be duly 
licensed to reside among them for the purpose of trade, and to their agents and servants ; 
but no person shall be permitted to reside at any of their towns or hunting camps, as a 
trader, who is not furnished with a license for that purpose, under the hand and seal of 
the superintendent of the department northwest of the Ohio, or such other person as the 
president of the United States shall authorize to grant such license; to the end, that the said 
Indians may not be imposed on in their trade. And if any licensed trader shall abuse his 
privilege by unfair dealing, upon complaint and proof thereof, his license shall be taken 
from him, and he shall be further punished according to the laws of the United States. — 
And if any person shall intrude himself as a trader, without such license, the said Indians 
shall take and bring him before the superintendent, or his deputy, to be dealt with accord- 
ing to law. And to prevent impositions by forged licenses, the said Indians shall, at least 
once a year, give information to the superintendent, or his deputies, of the names of the 
traders residing among tliem. 

Art. 9. Lest the firm peace and friendship now established, should be interrupted 
by the misconduct of individuals, the United States, and the said Indian tribes agree, 
that for injuries done by individuals on either side, no private revenge or retaliation 
sliall take place ; but instead thereof, complaint shall be made by the party injured, to 
the other: by the said Indian tribes, or any of them, to the president of the United 
States, or the superintendent by him appointed ; and by the superintendent or other 
person appointed by tlie president, to the principal chiefs of the said Indian tribes, or 
of the tribe to which the offender belongs ; and such prudent measures shall then be 
pursued as sliall be necessary to preserve the said peace and friendship unbroken, until the 
legislature (or great council) of the United States, shall make other equitable provision in 
the case, to the satisfaction of both parties. Should any Indian tribes meditate a war 
against the United States, or either of them, and the same shall come to the knowledge of 
the before mentioned tribes, or eitlier of them, they do hereby engage to give immediate 
notice thereof to the general, or officer commanding the troops of the United States, at the 
nearest post. And should any tribe, with hostile intentions against the United States, or 
either of them, attempt to pass through their country, they will endeavor to prevent the 
same, and in like manner give information of such attempt, to the general, or officer com- 
manding, as soon as possible, that all causes of mistrust and suspicion may be avoided be- 
tween them and the United States. In like manner the United States shall give notice to 
the said Indian tribes of any harm that may be meditated against them, or either of them 



APPENDIX. 



455 



that shall come to their knowledge ; and do all in tlieir power to hinder and prevent the 
same, that the friendship between them may be uninterrupted. 

Art. 10. All other treaties heretofore made between the United States and the said 
Indian tribes, or any of them, since the treaty of 1783, between the United States and 
Great Britain, that come witliin the purview of this treaty, shall henceforth cease and be- 
come void. 

In testimony whereof, the said Anthony Wayne, and the sachems and war chiefs of the 
before mentioned nations and tribes of Indians, iiave hereunto set their hands and 
affixed their seals. 
Done at Greenville, in the territory of tlie United States northwest of the river Ohio, on 
the third day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five. 



Anthony Wayne, [l. s.] 

WYANDOTS. 

Tarhe, or Crane, his x mark, 
J: Williams, jun. his x mark, 
Teyyaghtaw, his x mark, 
Haroenyou, or half king's son, his s mark, 
Tehaawtorens, his x mark, 
Awmeyeeray, his x mark, 
Stayetah, his x mark, 
Shateyyaronyah, or Leather Lips, his x 
Daughshuttayah, his x mark, [mark, 

Shaawrunthe, his x mark, 

DELAWARES. 

Tetabokshke, or Grand Glaize King, his x 

[mark, 

Lemantanquis, or Black King, his x mark, 

Wabatthoe, his x mark, 

Maghpiway, or Red Feather, his x mark, 

Kikthawenund, or Anderson, his x mark, 

Bukongehelas, his x mark, 

Peekeelund, his x mark, . 

Wellebawkeelund, his x mark, 

Peekeetelemund, or Thomas Adams, his x 

[mark, 

Kishkopekund, or Capt Buffalo, his x mark, 

Amenahehan, or Capt Crow, his x mark, 

Queshawksey, or George Washington, hia x 

[mark, 

Weywinquis, or Billy Siscooib, his x mark, 

Moses, his x mark, 

SHAWANEES, 

Misquacoonacaw, or Red Pole, his x mark, 
Cutthewekasaw, or Black Hoof, his x mark, 
Kaysewacsekah, his x mark, 
Wcythapamattha, his x mark, 
Nianymscka, his x mark, 
Waytheah, or Long Shanks, his x mark, 
Wcyapiersenwaw, or Blue Jacket, his .\ 

[mark, 
Nequetaughaw, his x mark, 



Hahgooseeeaw, or Capt. Reed, his x mark, 

OTTAWA. 

Chegonickska, (an Ottawa from Sandusky) 
[his X mark, 

TATTAWATIMAS OF THE RIVER ST. JOSEPH. 

Thupenebu, his mark, 

Nawac, (for himself and brother Etsimethe) 

[his mark, 
Nenanseka, his x mark, 
Keesass, or Sun, bis x mark, 
Kabamasaw, (for himself and brother Chi- 

saugan,) his x mark, 
Sugganunk, his x mark, 
Wapmeme, or White Pigeon, his x mark, 
Wacheness, (for himself and brother Peda- 

goshok,) his x mark, 
Wabshicawnaw, his x mark, 
La Chasse, his x mark, 
Meshegethenogh, (for himself and brother 

Wawasck,) his x mark, 
Hingoswash, his x mark, 
Anevvasaw, his x mark, 
Nawbudgh, his x mark, 
Missenogomaw, his x mark, 
Waweegshe, his x mark, 
Thawme, or Le Blanc, his x mark, 
Geeque, (for himself and brother She- 
winse,) liis x mark, 

PATTAWATIMAS OF HURON. 

Okia, his x mark, 

Chamung, his x mark, 

Segagewan, his x mark, 

Nanawme, (for himself and brother A. 

Gin,) his x mark, 
Marchand, his x mark, 
Wenameac, his x mark, 

MIAMIS. 

Nagoiiquangogh, or Le Gris, his x mark, 
Meshckuniioghquoh, or Little Turtle, his x 

[murk. 



456 



APPENDIX, 



bTtAWAS. 

Augoosliaway, his x mark, 
Keenoshameek, his x mark. 
La Malice, his x mark, 
Machiwetali, his x mark, 
Thowonawa, his x mark, 
Secaw, his x mark, 

CHIPPEWAS. 

Mashipinashiwish, or Bad Bird, his x mark, 
Nahshogashe, (from Lake Superior,) his x 

[mark, 
Kathawasung, his x mark, 
Masass, his x mark, 

Nemekass, or Little Thunder, hia x mark, 
Peshawkay, or Young Ox, his x mark, 
Nanguey, his x mark, 
Meenedohgeesogh, his x mark, 
Peewanshemenogh, his x mark, 
Weymegwas, his x mark, 
Gobmaatick, his x mark. 



MIAMIS ANE* EEL lllVKUS. 

Peejeewa, or Richard Ville, his x mark,- 
Cochkepoghtogh, his x mark, 

EEL RIVER TRIBE. 

Shamekunnesa, or Soldier, his x mark, 

MIAMIS. 

Wapaniangwa, or White Loon, his x mark, 

WEAS FOR THEMSELVES AND PIANKESHAWS. 

Amacunsa, or Little Beaver, his x mark, 
Acoolatha, or Little Fox, his x mark, 
Francis, his x mark, 

EICKAPOOS AND KASKASEIAS. 

Keeawhah, his x mark, 

Nemighka, or Josey Renard, his x mark, 

Paikeekanogh, hisx mark, 

DELAVVARES OF SANDUSKY. 

Hawkinpumiska, his x mark, 
Peyamawksey, his x mark, 
Reyntueco, (of the Six Nations living at 
Sandusky,) his x mark. 



In presence of, (the word " goods " in tlie 6th line of the 3d article ; the word " before " 
in the 26th line of the 3d article; the words "five hundred" in the 10th line of the 4th 
articles, and the word '• Piankeshaw " in the 14th line of the 4th article, being first inter- 
lined.) ^ 

H. De Butts, first A. t), C. and sec'y to Major Gen. Wayne, 

Wm. H. Harrison, aid de camp to Major Gen. Wayne, 

T. Lewis, aid de camp to Major Gen. Wayne, 

James O'Hara, Quarter Master Genera), 

John Mills, Major of Infantry, and Adjutant General. 
Caleb Swan, P. M. T. U. S. sworn interpreters. 

Geo. Demier, Lieut, Artillery, William Wells, 

Vi<ro, Jacques Lasselle, 

P. Frs. La Fontaine, M. Morins, 

Ant. Lasselle, Bt. Sans Crainte, 

II. Lasselle, Christopher Miller, 

Jn. Beau Bien, Robert Wilson, 

David Jones, Chaplain U. S. S. Abraham Williams, his x mark, 

Lewis Beaufait, Isaac Zane, his x mark. 

R. Lachambre, 
Jas. Pepen, 
Baties Coutien, 
P. Navarre, 



